JUDGE SUPPRESSES DRUG CASE EVIDENCE

Special Prosecutor Plans To Pursue Case Against Ex-Treasurer

COLUMBUS, Kan. - In a strongly worded ruling, Judge John White on
Friday suppressed evidence in the drug case against former Cherokee
County Treasurer Sharon Carpino.

"When a law enforcement officer stoops to the level that was done in
this case, there has to be some action taken to eliminate that
activity," White said.

The law enforcement officer White indirectly referred to is former
Cherokee County Deputy Sheriff Roger Wormington.

In another aspect of the case, Sheriff Bob Creech testified that he
wrote a letter to a Kansas Bureau of Investigation agent requesting
that the KBI delay an investigation of Wormington until after the
November 2000 election in which he was making a bid for a second term.

After the Carpino ruling Friday, Steven Angermayer, special
prosecutor, said he planned to continue to pursue a case against her,
though it was unclear what evidence remained that could be used in
the prosecution. "Certainly it doesn't help the case," Angermayer
said after the judge's ruling.

Carpino is charged with one felony count of drug possession. White
dismissed two other counts at her preliminary hearing. She also faces
several misdemeanor charges: possession of drug paraphernalia and a
handgun, and seven counts of paying false claims from the county
treasury.

Carpino's attorney, Edward Battitori, successfully argued that two
sheriff's deputies, Wormington and Mickey Rantz, coerced her into
making oral and written statements and signing a consent to search
her house on Dec. 3, 1999. That search led deputies to a pipe
containing methamphetamine residue. The pipe was found in the pocket
of a bathrobe. The judge's ruling precludes Angermayer from using
that as evidence if a trial goes forward.

"The totality of the circumstances show that this consent was not
voluntary," said White, an Allen County judge who was assigned to the
case.

Battitori again focused on another letter to the KBI director written
by Creech.

This one, written in 1999, made reference to Carpino's young daughter
and alleged that the child was in danger because methamphetamine was
in the house. Wormington showed the letter to Carpino at the
beginning of the interrogation Dec. 3, 1999, telling her that her
cooperation would determine whether Creech would mail the letter.

The testimony revealed that the sheriff had already mailed the original letter.

Taking the stand, Carpino testified that many people at the
courthouse knew that she was going through a contentious divorce and
child-custody battle.

"It shook me up, the fact it mentioned my daughter and that she was
in danger," Carpino said of the letter.

She said Wormington also told her she could either cooperate "or go
straight upstairs." She said she interpreted that to mean they would
take her to jail on the third floor of the courthouse.

Within days of her arrest, Carpino said, Brandon Ivey contacted her.
He worked as a reporter for the Columbus newspaper, but also was a
jailer for the sheriff's department.

"He told me this would be my opportunity to give my side of the
story," Carpino said.

She said she was aware Ivey was a part-time jailer at the time, but
wasn't aware that he was a deputy. Ivey currently serves as public
relations deputy for the sheriff's department.

Carpino also testified Friday that Wormington and Rantz told her she
would be a confidential informant and that she was not the target of
the investigation. She said the deputies promised to protect her
identity.

In his ruling, White said that it was obvious that those statements
were deceptive.

"I don't for a minute believe she was not a primary target," he said.

When Creech took the stand, Battitori asked him whether it was
appropriate to delay an investigation for the personal gain of an
officer. Creech asked him to be more specific.

Battitori then asked Creech whether he sent a letter to Bill Delaney,
KBI special agent, asking him to delay its investigation of
Wormington until after the election in which he was running for
re-election as sheriff.

Creech said he had. Asked his reason for doing so, Creech said he
thought the investigation was politically motivated and based on a
vendetta between Wormington and County Attorney JoAnna Derfelt.

Derfelt apparently asked on Aug. 29, 2000, for a KBI investigation of
Wormington, who abruptly resigned Sept. 5, 2000. Derfelt would later
divulge that she was convinced that Wormington had falsified an
affidavit in a drug case in order to obtain a search warrant. She
dropped the case involved and ultimately at least 20 more in which
Wormington had been a key investigator.

"They were political allegations designed to sabotage my election,"
Creech said Friday of Derfelt's request for the KBI probe.

Angermayer had objected to the relevance of the questioning.

"I think Mr. Wormington's credibility is very much an issue," White
said in overruling the objection.

Creech also said that he had not conducted any internal investigation
of Wormington regarding the prosecutor's concerns.

When Delaney took the stand, he criticized Creech's letter asking for
the delay in the investigation.

"I would have never sent that letter" if I were Creech, Delaney said.
"I would have never sent that request."

He said he disregarded it, and continued with the investigation.

Asked by Battitori whether he found any evidence of criminal
wrongdoing by Wormington, Delaney said: "I don't know about criminal
activity. There's some questionable activities as far as how he did
his job, maybe."

Delaney said Wormington delayed providing him with reports and other
paperwork in the Carpino case.

Angermayer also questioned Delaney about evidence against Wormington.

"Being incompetent, or not being able to handle your job, is
different than being a criminal," Delaney said.

"I've always said that myself," White said before announcing a break.
"Incompetence isn't criminal."

White said several things about the Dec. 3, 1999, interrogation bothered him.

"When that letter is used, under the circumstances that she is in a
divorce case, that becomes a threat," White said. "That becomes
coercive."

He said though Rantz in the tape transcript several times says he is
trying to build trust, both he and Wormington were lying to Carpino.

He said it also troubled him that the transcript in several places
listed Carpino's response as "unintelligible."

He also said there were gaps in the tape.

"We've sure heard about gaps in tapes over the years," White said in
obvious allusion to Richard Nixon's White House tapes during the
Watergate scandal.

He said Wormington also told Carpino what to write in her statement.

"That's bothersome," White said. "This statement was based virtually
on total deception."

The duration of the interrogation, between three and four hours from
when Rantz and Wormington entered Carpino's office to the time they
left her home, also factored into his finding, White said.

He said the prosecution could use any evidence it obtained
independent of the oral and written statements and the search of her
home.

"The state still has a case, if it ever had a case," White said.

After the hearing, Battitori called the ruling a victory.

"The court has drastically limited the amount of evidence the state
can use" if it goes forward, Battitori said.

Friday's hearing was a resumption of a hearing that began last month.
A date for a trial is still out.

Carpino has filed a $1 million lawsuit against the Cherokee County,
Creech, Wormington and Rantz, alleging they violated her civil
rights. That lawsuit is on hold until resolution of her criminal case.