PROSECUTOR FINALIZES NUMBER OF 'BAD' CASES

As a special prosecutor takes over the perjury case of former Cole
County undercover Cpl. Michael Isenberg, County Prosecutor Bill
Tackett said the case has led to dropped charges in 18 cases.

"We've quietly gone over 150-plus cases" where Isenberg was a witness,
Tackett said this morning.

In cases where others also witnessed the crime, Tackett said, no
changes were made.

In some cases where no other reports had been filed initially, other
witnesses now have supplied information that prosecutors can rely on.

"We've been able to salvage some cases without compromising the ethics
in our charging decisions," Tackett said. "We haven't cut any corners
when it comes to our ethical obligations."

But that process left his office "with a definitive 18 cases" where
Isenberg was the only witness, Tackett said.

In those cases, three people already have been released from prison
and one more person already has been released from probation.

Circuit Judge Thomas J. Brown III has scheduled a hearing later this
month to release people from sentences in 14 other cases.

Tackett and his office was taken off the Isenberg case because they
may be witnesses in it -- a potential conflict of interest.

Last week, Brown announced the prosecutor's job had been assigned to
David Fry, a former Jackson County prosecutor now working in private
practice.