GAME WARDEN SHOT IN DRUG RAID

TUSCALOOSA | A state conservation enforcement officer was shot while
assisting on a drug raid in Fayette County on Friday night.

The officer, Jimmy Hutto, was shot once in the hip area, said a Fayette
County sheriff's department spokesman.

Hutto was working with drug task forces from Marion and Fayette counties
that had obtained a search warrant for a home in Wayside, a community in
northwest Fayette County near the Marion County line.

At about 7 p.m. on Friday, task force members approached the front door of
the home, announced who they were and kicked the door in, the spokesman said.

"When Hutto stepped inside, the guy shot him," the spokesman said. The
bullet lodged next to Hutto's pelvic bone, he said.

Hutto, a game warden for the Alabama Division of Wildlife and Freshwater
Fisheries, a subdivision of the Department of Conservation, was taken to
Carraway Methodist Medical Center in Birmingham. He was listed in stable
condition Saturday.

David Mosher, 42, of 6778 County Road 36, Guin, was arrested and charged
with attempted murder, unlawful distribution of a controlled substance,
unlawful possession of a controlled substance and unlawful possession of a
pistol.

Sharon Pearce, 42, of 3879 County Highway 34, Haleyville, was also arrested
during the raid. She was charged with possession of marijuana, conspiracy
to distribute a controlled substance and possession of a controlled substance.

Bail has not been set for Mosher or Pearce, who remain in the Fayette
County jail.

Because the state gives full powers of arrest to conservation officers, it
is not uncommon for them to assist law enforcement agencies with matters
unrelated to game and fish enforcement, Alabama Commissioner of
Conservation Riley Boykin Smith said Saturday.

Smith commented on the shooting while addressing the Conservation Advisory
Board, during the board's annual meeting in Montgomery.

The Alabama Bureau of Investigation will investigate the shooting, said
Chris McCool, district attorney for the 24th Circuit, which includes
Fayette County.

Reach Stephanie Hoops at stephanie.hoops@tuscaloosanews.com, or 345-0505,
Ext. 364.