Pubdate: Tue, 17 Sep 2002
Source: Augusta Chronicle, The (GA)
Copyright: 2002 The Augusta Chronicle
Contact:  http://www.augustachronicle.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/31
Note: Does not publish letters from outside of the immediate Georgia and 
South Carolina circulation area
Author: Sandy Hodson
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/corrupt.htm (Corruption - United States)

FORMER OFFICERS ON TRIAL

Only a jury can decide whether two former Richmond County sheriff's 
officers were corrupted by the lure of profits from drug dealing and 
extortion or were victims of drug dealers willing to say anything to escape 
a life behind bars. The trial of Ralph Tyrone Williams and Joseph Ellick 
began Monday in U.S. District Court. Both have pleaded innocent to charges 
of conspiracy, attempt to possess crack cocaine and violation of the Hobbs 
Act by extortion.

"They'll all be here, warts and all," Mr. Williams' defense attorney Pete 
Theodocion said of the prosecutor's witnesses - most of whom are admitted 
drug dealers.

"You will not see a single grain of cocaine that allegedly ran through my 
client's hands," Mr. Theodocion said. There won't be any evidence that Mr. 
Williams had any extra cash besides a sheriff's officer's minimum pay, 
unlike at least one of the prosecution witnesses who paid $30,000 cash for 
a new SUV, the attorney said.

But Assistant U.S. Attorney J. Michael Faulkner told the jury in his 
opening statement that Mr. Williams and Mr. Ellick sold information to drug 
dealers, worked with at least two in the sale of cocaine and extorted money 
from others. A law enforcement officer has great power: the ability to 
arrest someone or not, seize items and cash, and withhold information to 
identify drug dealers, Mr. Faulkner said.

"The defendants used their power and authority ... for their own benefit," 
Mr. Faulkner said. "Instead of protecting and serving the community, they 
were serving their own interests."

It was easy for Mr. Williams and Mr. Ellick to do, the prosecutor said. 
Dealers cannot complain without admitting they were selling drugs, and if 
they complain anyway, their credibility is questionable, he said.

"They are easy prey to a law enforcement officer," Mr. Faulkner said.

Ellick attorney Michael Bloom said, however, what was easy was for drug 
dealer Ernest Smith to find a way out of legal trouble in 1999 by saying he 
had information on a corrupt officer.

Mr. Smith was looking at a minimum of 30 years without parole in November 
of that year when he said he was selling drugs, kilos of cocaine, with Mr. 
Ellick, the attorney said.

But when it came time to prove such allegations, by secretly recording 
phone conversations and by sending Mr. Smith, wired for sound, to talk to 
Mr. Ellick about their alleged past, nothing was said, Mr. Bloom said.

The same is true for Mr. Williams, his attorney said. Federal agents spent 
months listening to his telephone calls, taping his conversations with 
cooperating drug dealers and tracking his every move, but found nothing 
incriminating, Mr. Theodocion said.

Mr. Williams, 36, a veteran narcotics officer, was fired from his job after 
he was named in the federal indictment in February. Mr. Ellick, 34, who 
last served on the crime suppression unit, quit in 2001 to move to south 
Florida.

Both men have been free on $25,000 bonds pending trial.
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