HEARING SET IN CASE OF DRUG COURIER

Mentally Deficient Teen's Lawyer Wants Evidence Kept Out of Court

"I was just hoping for this kid to plead out and get some help, some
supervision. My hands are being tied." - John Burke, Albany County
Sheriff's Department inspector

ALBANY - The lawyer for a mentally deficient Brooklyn boy, who police said
was an unwitting drug mule, wants the evidence against his client suppressed.

George Collins said the search conducted on his client might have violated
the 15-year-old's rights. In Albany County Family Court on Wednesday,
Collins filed papers asking Judge W. Dennis Duggan for a hearing to keep
that evidence out of court.

He also said he will explore the admissibility of a psychiatrist's report,
which found that though the boy's IQ tested well below average, he is
competent to stand trial.

On Wednesday, the teen-ager sat on a wooden bench as he waited to go into
the courtroom. His head and shoulders twitched from side to side, rattling
the chains on his hands and feet. After sitting for a while, he asked a
deputy if he could move because he was cold.

Although it was raining outside, he had no jacket.

The boy was charged with third- and fourth-degree possession of a
controlled substance March 6 after Albany County sheriff's investigators
found 60 bags of heroin in his backpack.

At the time, Inspector John Burke said a group of older teen-agers put the
drugs in the boy's backpack without his knowledge, then offered him $50 if
he made a trip to Albany to see his aunt. But he has no family in the
Capital Region. Burke called it one of the saddest cases he had ever seen.

He hoped the case would not go to trial; he wanted the boy to get help,
instead.

But Wednesday, Burke said the county has no choice but to go forward with
the case against the boy because his lawyer did not want to take a plea
bargain that included mandated adult supervision.

"I was just hoping for this kid to plead out and get some help, some
supervision," Burke said. "My hands are being tied."

He said the county cannot drop the charges now because that would leave the
door open for the teen-ager's lawyer to sue the Sheriff's Department over
the arrest.

In his 33 years in law enforcement, Burke said he has seen drug dealers
increase their use of juveniles as mules, but he can recall actually going
to trial in only two cases prior to this one.

Sheila Lamont, the county at-torney handling the case, argued in court
Wednesday that the trial should go forward as planned. She had witnesses
waiting outside the door and physical evidence on hand.

But the judge decided to schedule an evidence suppression hearing for next
week.

After the decision was made, the boy hid his face in his hands and his
attorney consoled him. During his prior court appearance, the boy screamed
in the courtroom and alleged that he had been raped at the detention center
where he is being held. Officials from the facility have denied this.

The boy's mother, who arrived by bus from Brooklyn too late for the court
proceedings, said her son has been in special education classes since he
was in second grade.

She said she does not understand why the county is pursuing the case
against him. "I am at a loss," she said.