PROSECUTOR TO ASK JUDGE TO OVERTURN DRUG CONVICTIONS

Davidson District Attorney Says Accused Deputy May Have Planted the Evidence

LEXINGTON -- Garry Frank, the district attorney for Davidson County, said
yesterday that he intends to ask a judge to overturn drug convictions
against a man who may have been set up by at least one former deputy now
charged with distributing drugs.

Based on conversations and correspondence Frank had with the U.S.
Attorney's Office, and state and federal investigators, he said that there
is evidence that drugs were planted on Darick Owens, 34, before he was
arrested more than a year ago.

Frank said he intends to file a motion for appropriate relief.

Owens, who now lives in Thomasville, pleaded no contest and was convicted
in November 2000 of possession with intent to sell and distribute marijuana
and Ecstasy and maintaining a vehicle for drugs.

Owens spent 50 days in jail before his conviction and was sentenced to two
years of supervised probation, which ends this November, according to court
records.

Frank declined to say which deputy was involved in the case or to disclose
a motive. But he said that law-enforcement officers and other individuals
are responsible.

Charged in December with distributing drugs and other offenses were three
former Davidson County sheriff's deputies - Lt. David Scott Woodall, Lt.
Douglas Edward Westmoreland and Sgt. William Monroe Rankin - along with
former Archdale police Sgt. Christopher Shetley and two citizens, Wyatt
Kepley and Marco Aurelio Acosta-Soza.

They are all scheduled to appear today in federal court in Greensboro at a
change-of-plea hearing. They all initially pleaded not guilty.

Since state and federal investigators arrested the deputies, Frank has
dismissed almost 30 pending cases. Those cases were jeopardized because the
deputies were witnesses or handled some evidence in the investigation,
Frank said.

But the Owens case is different, Frank said.

If the charges against Owens are set aside it would be the first time a
conviction was overturned because of the deputies.

"This is a different matter altogether because apparently the investigation
will show that (Owens) was innocent," Frank said. "It's important in the
overall scope of things to get the record straight."

For Owens, the possibility that his convictions could be off his record is
a relief.

"I'm ready to get this behind me," he said. Since his conviction, Owens, a
welder at a local truck-body manufacturing company, has been living in
motel rooms in Davidson County.

Owens has to report to a probation officer once a month and although he is
an avid hunter, he can no longer carry a firearm because of his convictions.

Owens said he always knew he had been set up, but authorities didn't
believe him and he had no proof.

He was arrested Sunday, Sept. 17. It was his second run-in with Davidson
County deputies that weekend.

On Saturday, Sept. 16, two deputies approached him at a house that he
shared with his sister.

They said that they had received a tip from CrimeStoppers that he had
drugs, Owens said.

Owens admitted that he had two marijuana joints and turned them over to the
deputies. They searched his car and home, but found nothing else, Owens said.

According to court records, Owens was charged with possession of up to a
half-ounce of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia that day.

The deputies visited him again on Sunday. They told him they had received
another tip, Owens said.

This time when they searched his 1989 Chevy, the officers said they
discovered 10 plastic bags of marijuana and 10 Ecstasy pills, Owens said.

A Davidson County deputy who was not indicted in the drug investigation
handled the investigation. However, Woodall is listed as a witness on the
warrants against Owens, according to court documents.

Owens said he doesn't remember Woodall.

Owens spent 50 days in jail and then pleaded no contest because he said
wanted to get out of jail and couldn't afford the $4,500 bond.

"I just wanted to get out of there," he said. "I just wanted out of there;
jail isn't for me."

He was also worried that authorities and a jury wouldn't believe that he
was set up because he had two marijuana joints in his possession the day
before.

"I would tell everybody, and everybody would say, 'Yeah, it's yours, I've
heard that story before,'" Owens said.

Owens was planning on serving out the remainder of his probation. But in
late January, agents with the State Bureau of Investigation visited him in
his Thomasville motel room and confirmed his suspicions, he said.

"They told me the drugs were planted," he said. "I didn't know whether to
be happy or cry."

Officials with the U.S. Attorney's Office said they could not comment on
this case.

"From what I understand a lot of state cases have been affected by these
indictments," said Lynne Klauer, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office
in Greensboro.