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News (Media Awareness Project) - US NY: Defendant's Mother Blasts FBI During Her Testimony
Title:US NY: Defendant's Mother Blasts FBI During Her Testimony
Published On:2002-03-02
Source:Buffalo News (NY)
Fetched On:2008-01-24 19:09:44
DEFENDANT'S MOTHER BLASTS FBI DURING HER TESTIMONY

Darnyl Parker's mother and other family members lashed out at Buffalo FBI
agents Friday, as tempers exploded in the police corruption trial of Parker
and three other defendants.

Parker's mother, Mary Blue, launched a tirade against the FBI while
appearing as the first defense witness in the six-week trial. The
61-year-old retired nurse accused the FBI of threatening and intimidating
her family, and trying to put Parker in prison for 75 years.

"They are trying to give my son 75 years. They put a gun to the head of my
other son, Darryl," said Blue, raising her voice before a stunned jury.
"They threatened my sister with 18 years in prison. I'm under a lot of
stress. . . . It's hard to sit here and listen to people lie."

U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara told jurors to disregard the
outburst, because it was not responsive to questions posed to Blue by a
federal prosecutor. Blue then told Arcara she would not answer the
prosecutor's questions unless the judge ordered the FBI's two case agents
in the Parker investigation - Brian Cid and James Jancewicz - to leave the
courtroom.

Arcara allowed the agents to remain in court. Blue calmed down and
continued her testimony, occasionally glaring at the FBI agents and
Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul J. Campana.

Later, in the courthouse lobby, Blue and other family members expressed
their rage toward the federal authorities in interviews with The Buffalo
News, radio and television reporters.

"My brother is not getting a fair trial," said Darryl Parker, Darnyl
Parker's identical twin brother. "The FBI and the federal prosecutors have
not treated our family fair since Day One of their investigation."

Similar comments came from Blue and from two of Parker's aunts, Jackie
Sayles and Dawn Sayles.

Campana and an FBI spokesman declined to comment Friday on the accusations.
But in the past, federal law enforcement officials have insisted they acted
properly in their probe into allegations of theft and bribe-taking by
members of the Buffalo Police Narcotics Squad.

"We're not going to respond to remarks that are being made while a trial is
ongoing," said FBI Special Agent Paul M. Moskal. "We'll have something to
say after the trial."

One of the defense lawyers in the case - Rodney O. Personius - said he has
not agreed with every one of Arcara's rulings, but feels the judge has
"gone the extra mile" to give both sides a fair trial.

Parker and three other former narcotics investigators - David Rodriguez,
John Ferby and Robert Hill - are accused of stealing $36,000 from an
undercover FBI agent who was posing as a drug dealer. All four officers
also are accused of plotting an illegal raid on a West Avenue apartment
that an FBI informant had told them was a dealer's stash house.

Parker also faces additional charges of money laundering, taking payoffs
from a drug dealer and arranging a cocaine deal. The defendants have
pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

Blue took the witness stand Friday to testify that $12,000 in cash that was
found by the FBI in Parker's bedroom on the day of his arrest in March 2000
was her money - not Parker's.

Under questioning by defense attorney Mark J. Mahoney, Blue said she asked
Parker to hold the cash for her, even though she also was keeping money in
savings accounts at a bank and at a federal credit union. Blue testified
that she keeps most of her money at home, rather than in the bank.

"I love to go to the casino," Blue said. "I give money to my grandchildren
and my children."

When Campana began to question her about the money, Blue looked toward Cid
and Jancewicz - who have sat at the prosecution table throughout the trial
- - and erupted in a tirade at the FBI.

"I'm afraid of those agents because of what they have done to my family,"
Blue said.

Among the allegations made by Blue and other family members:

Darryl Parker, 42, said four agents showed up at his girlfriend's Eggert
Road home on the day after his brother's arrest, "barged in without a
warrant" and dragged him outside in his underwear.

He said an agent pointed a gun at him and warned him that there would be
retribution if any harm came to Theodore Calhoun, a drug dealer who acted
as an FBI informer against Darnyl Parker.

"They cuffed me, they had me up against a wall and they told me, "If
anything happens to Calhoun, we're coming after you,' " Darryl Parker said.
"I later made a complaint about this to the FBI office, and they never even
sent out an agent to hear what I had to say."

Parker's aunts, Jackie Sayles and Dawn Sayles, claimed FBI agents have
intimidated family members and threatened them while demanding information
on Parker and his alleged illegal activities.

Jackie Sayles claimed that she was "harassed" so much by FBI agents that
she moved out of state last year. After Darnyl Parker's arrest, she said,
agents told her that she could face 18 years in prison if she didn't
provide information about her nephew.

Blue, who has watched nearly every day of the trial, sitting behind her son
in the front spectators' row, claimed that Arcara has not given her son a
fair trial.

Blue said she remains convinced of her son's innocence, even after hearing
her grandson, William, testify against Parker, and even after hours of FBI
tapes of her son allegedly plotting crimes with Calhoun.

"They're railroading our children. . . . The government has no evidence,"
Blue said. "They use equipment that's faulty. They give $95,000 cash to a
two-time felon to testify against my son. . . . When important evidence
comes up, the judge keeps sending the jury out of the courtroom."

Rodriguez's lawyer, Personius, strongly disagreed with Blue's assessment of
Arcara. He said the judge has sent jurors out of the courtroom only for
sensitive arguments over evidence, and has often done so at the request of
defense lawyers.

"It's been a hard-fought trial. The judge has consistently gone the extra
mile to hear both sides," Personius said. "His rulings have been fair to
the defense and the prosecution. If he had bias against Darnyl Parker, he
would not have allowed (Blue) to sit up there and make her unsubstantiated
tirade against the government."

The trial is expected to conclude next week.
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