JUDGE OVERTURNS DAVIDSON MAN'S DRUG CHARGES

Conviction Is The First One Tossed In Deputies' Case

LEXINGTON - A Superior Court judge yesterday dismissed drug charges against
a Davidson County man who spent 50 days in jail and more than a year on
supervised probation because a former sheriff's deputy helped frame him.

Judge Kimberly Taylor overturned the felony possession of Ecstasy and
marijuana convictions against Darick Owens, 34, after one of three former
Davidson County deputies convicted on drug-conspiracy and extortion charges
admitted to investigators that he helped plant evidence on Owens.

"During debriefings with federal agents, one of the arrested detectives has
admitted to aiding and abetting in the 'planting' of evidence in (Owens)
vehicle," court documents said.

The former deputy told investigators that he gave someone marijuana to use
in setting up Owens in retaliation for a domestic dispute, court documents
said.

Prosecutors called what happened to Owens a "total miscarriage of justice,"
and took the unusual step of filing a motion for appropriate relief and
requesting that the conviction be set aside. Usually, defense attorneys
file such motions.

"I felt strongly that this was an appropriate thing for the state to do,"
said District Attorney Garry Frank. "I have no qualms about what we did."

Frank has dismissed pending drug charges against more than 30 people
because these former deputies were key witnesses in the cases or handled
the evidence. But this is the first conviction to be overturned since state
and federal agents arrested Lt. David Scott Woodall, Lt. Douglas Edward
Westmoreland and Sgt. William Monroe Rankin on the morning of Dec.12, 2001.
Agents also arrested former Archdale police Sgt. Christopher Shetley and
two others, Wyatt Kepley and Marco Aurelio Acosta-Soza.

The men pleaded guilty this month to various charges of conspiracy to
distribute drugs. They are awaiting sentencing.

Court documents did not say which deputy confessed to setting up Owens.
However, Woodall did tell other detectives twice that he had a tip that
Owens had drugs, court documents said.

In September 2000, Woodall told a Davidson County deputy that he had
information that Owens had a large quantity of marijuana.

On Sept. 16, the deputy, who was not indicted in the drug conspiracy, and
other officers searched the home that Owens shared with his sister in
southern Davidson County.

Owens admitted that he had two marijuana joints and turned them over to the
deputies, Owens said.

At that time Owens was charged with misdemeanor possession of marijuana and
possession of drug paraphernalia.

He was given a citation, court documents said.

Then on Sept. 17, Woodall told deputies to search Owens again.

This time the deputies found more than a pound of marijuana and 10 Ecstasy
pills under the driver's seat of his 1989 Chevy.

Owens said he told deputies that he had been set up, but nobody believed him.

Owens spent 50 days in the Davidson County Jail and then pleaded no contest
to the charges because he wanted to get out of jail and couldn't afford the
$45,000 bond, he said.

Because of the conviction Owens had to report to a probation officer once a
month and he lost many of his rights, including his ability to vote and
carry a firearm.

Owens said he is relieved that the deputy is in jail, but he also wants
authorities to arrest the people who worked with the deputy in setting him up.

"I don't know what to say," Owens said."I'm going to be moving on and
putting this behind me."

But moving on will be more difficult for court officials and deputies in
Davidson County.

For now, there are no other cases such as Owens' that need to be
overturned, but the arrests have dealt a blow to the credibility of law
enforcement, Frank said.

In the past, complaints by defendants that they had been set up by
authorities were dismissed as unbelievable. But the Owens case demonstrates
that such things happened, said Taylor, the judge.

"It makes the court system look bad," Taylor said.

"It's just embarrassing. At least here in Davidson County it's making our
credibility look bad."

And the courts will be dealing with the effects of these arrests for a long
time, she said.

"I think we're just seeing the beginning of it," Taylor said. "I'm sure
we'll be hearing about it for a long time."