AUDIO TAPE SETS CHICAGOAN FREE

Ex-Guard Faced 40 Years For Drug Case

Convicted of felony drug charges in Lucas County Common Pleas Court, Edward
L. Turner was looking at going to prison, probably for the rest of his life.

Instead, Mr. Turner, 58, boarded a Greyhound bus in downtown Toledo
yesterday and went home to Chicago. An out-of-work security guard, Mr.
Turner, who had spent nearly seven months in the county jail, was freed
after prosecutors dismissed the felony drug charges that a jury found him
guilty of last month.

Scheduled for sentencing on Jan. 2, he was facing a possible 40-year prison
sentence from Judge Ronald Bowman.

"That is really something. I don't know how they could lock me up for that
long," Mr. Turner said. "I felt like I was looking at death. I didn't have
that much time."

Mr. Turner and another Chicago man were arrested May 25 after Ohio Highway
Patrol troopers found an estimated $200,000 worth of cocaine in their
rental car. They were stopped on the Ohio Turnpike, west of the Toledo
Express Airport exit, for speeding.

He was released in the wake of an enhanced videotape that indicated he
wasn' t lying when he said he didn't know cocaine and crack cocaine were
hidden in a shoebox, which troopers found in the trunk of the car.

Prosecutors had the tape analyzed so that an inaudible conversation between
the two men could be heard.

"Mr. Turner, now you know the system really works," Judge Bowman said after
he dismissed the two charges, each carrying an additional 10 years for
major drug offense specifications.

Harry J. Genous, 24, the co-defendant in the case, is scheduled for trial
Jan. 2. He posted a $100,000 bond and was released from jail.

A camera inside the trooper's car recorded on videotape the search of the
car, driven by Mr. Genous, as well as the conversation between him and Mr.
Turner after they were arrested and placed in the patrol car. However,
portions of the conversation were inaudible because of traffic noise,
including Mr. Turner asking his traveling companion about the contents of
the shoebox.

Troopers found 3.4 pounds of powdered cocaine and three quarters of a pound
of crack cocaine in the trunk after Mr. Genous, in whose name the car was
rented, consented to the search.

Dean Mandross, head of the criminal division in the prosecutor's office,
said the enhanced videotape coupled with Mr. Turner passing a polygraph
test indicated he didn't know they were carrying drugs. In addition,
prosecutors questioned the relationship between the two men after family
members paid Mr. Genous' bond and hired his attorney, while Mr. Turner's
bond was not posted and he relied on a public defender.

"All these things put together caused us to question whether he really had
any culpability in this case," Mr. Mandross said, adding that Mr. Turner
has agreed to testify at Mr. Genous' trial.

Though polygraph tests have led to charges being dismissed in the past,
county Prosecutor Julia Bates said it is rare that a case is dismissed
after winning a conviction in a jury trial. "Our job is not to get
convictions, it is to do justice. Sometimes justice is not getting
convictions. The job is to analyze the case, analyze the facts, weigh the
evidence, and do what is right," she said.

Jack Viren, Jr., the court-appointed attorney for Mr. Turner, said the jury
returned with guilty verdicts, in part, based on what they heard in the
videotape, which they requested to review during their deliberations. "I
find it incredible in the positive sense. Even after he was convicted,
based on what the prosecutor's office found on the videotape, they took the
necessary steps so that an innocent man would not go to prison," he said.

Mr. Viren bought the bus ticket for Mr. Turner so he could return to Chicago.

Mr. Turner, sitting in the bus station surrounded by his belongings in
plastic bags, recalled hoping to persuade the jury of his innocence by
taking the witness stand. He discussed the emptiness he felt when the jury
verdicts were read. He said each "guilty" made his heart sink deeper and
deeper.

"Each time they said it, I went further and further out. It really hurt me
each time they said, 'Guilty, '" he said.

Mr. Turner said he met Mr. Genous last year in Chicago when he was coaching
a team in a night-time basketball league. He said Mr. Genous, one his
former players, was driving to the Akron area, and he accompanied him, with
the intention of seeing a friend who lives in the area.

Mr. Turner, a former semi-professional basketball player, said he still has
doubts about whether the judicial system always works. "If they can prove
someone guilty, they should be able to prove someone innocent," he said.
"Instead, if they can't prove someone innocent, then they must be guilty."