JUDGE DROPS DRUG CHARGE

FLORENCE - A Lauderdale circuit judge has dropped a case against a
man accused in a drug-possession case because he said prosecutors
breached an agreement to dismiss the charges in exchange for $5,000.

Defendant Derris Lamone Cortner was freed of the charges after a
Friday hearing in Judge Mike Jones' courtroom.

Cortner was charged in August 2001 with unlawful possession of
controlled substances and second-degree possession of marijuana after
a traffic stop carried out by David Scogin, then director of the
Lauderdale County Drug Task Force.

Chief Assistant Lauderdale County District Attorney Doug Evans said
Friday that an agreement never existed between the state and defendant
Cortner.

Regardless, Jones signed an order dismissing the charges.

A state and federal investigation has been launched into operations at
the drug task force. Among the issues being reviewed in the
public-corruption investigation is allegations that deals were made
with suspects that were not approved.

Scogin, who was also the chief investigator in the district attorney's
office, has resigned from those positions. No one has been charged in
connection with the investigation, but a federal grand jury has
started hearing evidence in the case.

In this particular case, task force agents subsequently searched an
apartment and discovered $10,000 in cash that they attempted to link
to Cortner.

In a hearing Tuesday, Florence attorney Tim Case argued before Jones
that the state entered into an agreement in which the criminal charge
would be dismissed in exchange for $5,000. The remaining $5,000 was to
be returned to Cortner through his attorney.

Case said Cortner agreed to the settlement and asked that a pending
civil condemnation case be dismissed.

Circuit Judge Mike Suttle, however, refused to honor the agreement and
ordered the district attorney's office to turn the disputed money over
to the circuit clerk's office.

Suttle also ordered that cash being sought for condemnation in 23
other criminal cases be turned over to the clerk's office. The
district attorney's office has not yet complied with that order.

In an April 2002 response to Suttle's order, Lauderdale County
District Attorney Steve Graham wrote that various factors made it
impossible to comply with the court's orders.

One factor cited in the response was that the state was "not in
physical possession of the cash sought to be condemned in this action."

Graham said that in some cases, the money had been turned over to the
chief accountant for the city of Florence for safekeeping. In other
cases, money was being held by law enforcement agencies because of
evidentiary value.

He also said in many cases defendants were in default for failing to
answer to the condemnation petitions.

Jones wrote in his order that despite a lack of "notes or evidence" in
the prosecution's file, he believed an agreement was reached between
Cortner and the state.

"Although no written agreement was filed, there was an oral agreement
between the parties, which is enforceable," the judge wrote.

He also wrote that prosecutors breached its agreement with Cortner
after he was indicted by a grand jury in March.

The judge wrote that the fact that Suttle refused to dismiss the
condemnation case should not allow the state to proceed "with a
prosecution it had previously abandoned in exchange for money."

Case argued during Tuesday's hearing that the indictment was motivated
by the ongoing investigation of the drug task force.

He told the court that ABI agents have questioned him about the
Cortner case among others.

"We're very happy with the court seeing that an agreement did exist
even though the state denied that," Case said Friday.

Evans said the state would review its options in appealing Jones'
order in the criminal case.

"We still deny that there was an agreement to dismiss a criminal case
because of action in a civil case," Evans said. "We respectfully
disagree with the findings that there was a verbal agreement to
dismiss the criminal case."

Court records show that Evans signed an agreement to dismiss the civil
condemnation case.

The stipulation of dismissal states that the state and defendant ask
that the case be dismissed because the parties have reached a mutual
agreement.

There were no documents in either the criminal or civil files
indicating that there was a written agreement in the criminal case.

"Although a plea agreement may be reduced to writing, the prevalent
custom in Alabama is that such agreements are verbal understandings
between the attorneys involved," Jones wrote in his order. "We point
this out to dispel any suggestion that a plea agreement is
unenforceable merely because it is unwritten."

Case said he will file a motion asking that Suttle make a final
determination in the civil condemnation action.

[sidebar]

QUICK LOOK

Issue: Alabama Bureau of Investigation, with FBI help, is investigating the
Lauderdale County Drug Task Force for possible corruption, including
allegations that unapproved deals were cut with suspects.

What's new: Drug charges against Derris Cortner, arrested by the task
force in 2001, were dropped Friday by Circuit Judge Mike Jones, who
ruled the state breached an agreement by not following through with a
deal.