Thanks To Bad Tapes, Bell Cases Drew A Blank

ANATOMY OF A FAILED BUST

PINEVILLE - The informant got more than $3,000. The cops and the prosecutor
got nothing except a note back from the jury that said, "not enough evidence."

And a dozen defendants went free.

A failed 1996 drug roundup in Bell County shows how police can be burned by
unreliable informants, bad recordings and their own missteps.

In the Bell cases, informant Ricky Adkins was sent to make secret
audiotapes of drug buys with a hidden recorder -- but the tapes turned out
to be either blank or garbled, court records show.

State police Det. Alice Chaney, then a 15-year veteran with several
commendations, was running the investigation. When she was named Post 10
Trooper of the Year in 1990, her boss wrote that no case was too
complicated for her.

Had Chaney checked the tapes soon after getting them -- as police say she
should have -- she would have discovered the problem and could have tried
again.

Instead, Chaney testified, she didn't listen to the tapes until later.

In all, a dozen people were indicted in the roundup.

But Bell Commonwealth's Attorney Karen Blondell said she didn't learn of
the tape problem until her office was preparing for the first trial -- a
cocaine-trafficking case against Derrick "Bugsy" Hariston, 26.

"It's disappointing, but you have got to do the best you can with what
you're brought by the police," Blondell said in a recent interview. "I'll
say this -- it was embarrassing."

Even without tapes, Blondell decided to take the Hariston case to trial
with testimony from Adkins and Chaney.

Chaney testified that she had worked about 400 drug cases in one 10-month
period.

Defense attorney Jennifer Nagle bore down on the tape issue, according to a
transcript.

Nagle: "That tape is totally blank?"

Chaney: "Yes ma'am."

Nagle: "That tape had to be turned off, didn't it?"

Chaney: "It was either turned off or the tape recorder wasn't working."

Hariston denied selling cocaine to Adkins, saying it was a case of mistaken
identity. Jurors acquitted Hariston, writing "not enough evidence" on the
verdict form.

Charges against the other 11 Bell County defendants were eventually
dismissed because of the poor quality of the tapes and problems locating
Adkins, according to state police files.

Adkins could not be reached for comment.

Chaney testified that for working as an informant, Adkins received a
standard payment of $100 for each felony drug buy he made and $50 for each
misdemeanor. That would have totaled more than $3,000 for the charges
listed in the 12 Bell County indictments.

Chaney resigned from the state police in April 2000. She recently said she
suffers post-traumatic stress disorder from her service as a state-police
officer and receives federal and state disability payments.

"It bothered me a lot ... when those things started going to trial and the
complications started happening," Chaney said, though she did not recall
specific details of the 1996 drug roundup.

State police Maj. Mike Sapp said that a few years ago, some detectives
doing street-level drug investigations out of regional posts -- such as
Harlan, where Chaney worked -- didn't have enough training in such work.
Nor were post-level supervisors specifically trained to oversee such
investigations, Sapp said.

The Kentucky State Police now trains detectives who do drug investigations
to listen to audiotapes of undercover buys soon after the transactions,
Sapp said. Also, supervisors now get specific training in narcotics
investigations, he said.

Sapp also said the state police had problems with recording equipment at
the time of the Bell County roundup. The agency has since upgraded its
equipment.

Prosecutor Blondell said she also has a new policy: She or someone in her
office listens to undercover tapes before presenting a case to the grand jury.