GRAND JURY TO GET METH-LAB CASE FROM SCOTT COUNTY

HUNTSVILLE, Tenn. - A grand jury will review drug charges against four
people authorities say were at an alleged methamphetamine lab when Scott
County Deputy Hubert "John John" Yancey was accidentally killed by a fellow
officer.

After a lengthy hearing Thursday, Sessions Court Judge James Cotton sent
the cases against Mark Edward Rector, 35; Ryan Douglas Clark, 28; Penny
Annette Carpenter, 28; and Nicole Windle, 26, to the grand jury.

All are charged with three counts of manufacturing methamphetamine. None
faces state charges related to the death of Yancey, 35, who was shot inside
a mobile home where the four reportedly were staying and making meth.
Rector and Carpenter also have meth-related charges pending in other
counties, Assistant Attorney General James Galloway said.

The fatal shot was fired by Deputy Marty Carson, 31, the son of Sheriff Jim
Carson. A confusing series of events inside the dimly lit trailer led
Carson to believe he fired at a suspect armed with a shotgun, authorities
said last week.

The confusion over what happened continued for several hours before it was
finally determined with certainty that Yancey had not been shot by a
suspect, according to testimony of Chief of Detectives Robby Carson and
Detective Randy Lewallen.

Carson, who is on leave, was not among the officers who testified.

Carson, Yancey and two other deputies went to the trailer on Nov. 28 - the
day after Thanksgiving - to investigate a tip that meth was being made
there. They did not have a search warrant but went on a "knock and talk"
basis to obtain permission to enter and look around. Carson entered the
trailer after obtaining permission from Clark, according to testimony.

After the shot was fired, all suspects except Windle fled. When Rector and
Carpenter were arrested the next morning, Rector "blurted" a statement
indicating that he fled out of fear that someone was breaking in the
trailer to kill them, Lewallen testified.

Morgan County Deputy Wayne Potter, a member of a regional meth task force
called in after the shooting to follow up on the drug probe, testified that
although no finished meth was found, the trailer contained numerous items
and materials commonly used in making it.

Carpenter's lawyer, Leif Jeffers, described the situation as "a very
troubling case" that has generated much emotion. He said the officers who
initially went to the trailer did not have sufficient legal grounds to do
so and that the "search, entry and everything that happened thereafter was
illegal."