Pubdate: Sat, 09 Dec 2000
Source: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (AR)
Copyright: 2000 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc.
Contact:  121 East Capitol Avenue, Little Rock, Arkansas, 72201
Website: http://www.ardemgaz.com/
Forum: http://www.ardemgaz.com/info/voices.html
Author: Linda Satter

MAN WRONGLY CONVICTED ON DRUG CHARGE FREED

False testimony by a federal drug task force agent led to the wrongful 
conviction of an Arkadelphia man in 1996, a judge said Friday in ordering 
the man's immediate release from prison, where he had served 4 1/2 years of 
a life sentence.

U.S. Magistrate Judge John Forster Jr.'s order, read aloud in the 
courtroom, was an emotional moment for both the wrongly convicted man, 
Rodney Bragg, 39, and his attorney, Patrick J. Benca of Little Rock.

"I got my heart involved in this case a year and a half ago," Benca said 
later Friday, referring to his appointment after Bragg diligently pursued 
appeals in state and federal court without a lawyer. "I knew all along he 
was telling the truth, that he didn't have anything to do with it."

At Forster's order, announced about 10:30 a.m., Benca accompanied Bragg 
back to prison to ensure that he would be immediately "processed out" and 
set free -- which he was at 3 p.m.

"The first thing he said was, 'I'm going to go home and spend time with my 
family,' " Benca said of the divorced father of two. Benca said Bragg 
intended to see his children and his mother, but that his father died while 
he was in prison.

"His father was just torn up by this whole thing," Benca said.

Adding insult to injury, Benca said, Bragg also contracted hepatitis while 
in prison.

"This guy's been dealt a horrible hand," the young defense attorney said. 
"This guy's been in jail for four and a half years for something he didn't 
do. When I walked out of there, you couldn't put a price tag on how I felt. 
I don't think these things get granted very often."

He was referring to a writ of habeas corpus, which sought a chance to be 
heard in an attempt to get relief from his conviction.

Bragg was convicted by a jury on Jan. 19, 1996, in Nevada County Circuit 
Court in Prescott of delivery of a controlled substance. The sentence was 
punishable by 10 to 40 years or life in prison, and the jury recommended 
the latter sentence and a $25,000 fine.

"It was all based on the testimony of one officer," Benca said.

But that officer, agent Keith Ray of the South Central Drug Task Force that 
served Clark, Nevada and Hempstead counties, gave testimony that was 
"grossly incorrect and either fabricated or intentionally distorted," 
Forster said in a 38-page written ruling.

Ray, who Benca said had previously been a certified law enforcement officer 
in Oklahoma, is no longer working for the task force. He resigned when 
confronted about his testimony in the case, after parts of it changed 
substantially during a federal court hearing last month.

Forster wrote that Bragg, through his own and Benca's "tireless 
investigation," has "provided indisputable documentary evidence of his 
innocence."

Benca didn't rule out the possibility of a civil lawsuit against Ray, 
saying only, "That's something that Mr. Bragg and I will discuss."

Forster noted that three things were critical to securing Bragg's 
conviction at trial, and all three came from Ray's testimony. But, he said, 
"those three areas of testimony by agent Ray were shown to be absolutely 
misleading or untrue."

The three areas all involved Ray's identification of Bragg as the person 
who sold him cocaine during an undercover drug operation on March 26, 1993.

According to trial testimony as summarized by Forster, Ray was working 
undercover when he went to a Prescott home with a confidential informant to 
buy $50 worth of crack cocaine. The resident led Ray to the kitchen door, 
and told him to wait there. Ray saw three men sitting at the kitchen table 
with a large amount of what appeared to be crack cocaine. After the 
resident spoke to one of the men, that man got up from the table and 
approached Ray, then handed Ray a piece of crack in exchange for $50.

After leaving the house, Ray described to the confidential informant the 
man from whom Ray had bought the drug. The informant wasn't present during 
the transaction, but said the man could have been the resident's cousin, 
Rodney Mitchel. But when Ray later looked at photographs of Mitchel, he 
determined Mitchel wasn't the seller.

Nearly a year later, on March 1, 1994, Ray conducted another undercover 
drug operation in Clark County with another informant. Ray gave the 
informant $125, and the informant used the cash to buy several rocks of 
crack cocaine from a man he knew as "Rodney." Ray testified that he 
positioned his vehicle so he could view the delivery, and recognized the 
man selling the cocaine as the same man who sold him the cocaine in 1993.

Ray testified that he ran a check on the license plate number and it 
checked back to Bragg. Ray also said that he contacted the Nevada County 
sheriff's office and got a photograph of Bragg, through which he positively 
identified Bragg as the man who sold him the drug in 1993.

Forster said Bragg's conviction was sealed on three issues: Ray's exclusion 
of Rodney Mitchell through sheriff's office photographs, Ray's license 
plate check during a drug transaction and, after learning a suspect's name, 
verifying an identify through other sheriff's office photographs.

But Ray's investigative notes, which weren't unveiled at trial, revealed 
evidence that could have exonerated Bragg, Forster said. The notes said, in 
part, "This agent is positive that Rodney Mitchel and Rodney L. Bragg are 
the same person."

Also, Forster noted, Bragg proved that he didn't own the gray 1987 Ford 
Mustang whose license plate was checked, or have the plate until "well 
after" March 1, 1994. Documents show the car was purchased March 22, 1994, 
and the tag number that Ray claimed to have checked wasn't issued until 
March 23, 1994.

The seller of the vehicle substantiated the bill of sale and, when asked if 
Bragg could have used the Mustang on March 1, 1994, testified, "Ain't no 
way possible," Forster's order noted.

The order further states that during the November evidentiary hearing, 
Bragg presented a statement from the Nevada County sheriff's office saying 
that it has never had photographs of Mitchel on file. And photos of Bragg 
- -- which Ray said he used to identify Bragg on March 1, 1994 -- weren't 
available until June 21, 1994.

Forster noted later in his order that "the evidence now shows that there 
never was an individual named Rodney Mitchel, nor photographs of an 
individual purporting to be Rodney Mitchel." The judge noted that, when 
confronted with that evidence, Ray admitted that when he testified at 
Bragg's trial that he excluded Mitchel, and he knew his testimony was false.

Forster noted that at the federal hearing, the court heard testimony from 
Henry Morgan, who is the Clark County prosecutor and the current head of 
the task force, but wasn't involved in Bragg's prosecution. Morgan 
testified that he was "deeply troubled" that Ray's report listed the 
license plate number of Bragg's Mustang weeks before Bragg bought the car 
and was assigned the license number. Morgan testified that he had 
personally investigated the matter "looking for an explanation," but "found 
no information to put his discomfort to rest."

His questioning of Ray led to Ray's resignation, Forster said.

Benca said he didn't know what motivated Ray to give false testimony, but 
he noted that after Bragg's arrest, the task force confiscated the Mustang 
and Ray drove it often -- including to Bragg's trial.
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