Pubdate: Wed, 29 Jan 2003
Source: Lexington Herald-Leader (KY)
Copyright: 2003 Lexington Herald-Leader
Contact:  http://www.kentucky.com/mld/heraldleader/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/240
Author: Tom Lasseter And Bill Estep

Thanks To Bad Tapes, Bell Cases Drew A Blank

ANATOMY OF A FAILED BUST

PINEVILLE - The informant got more than $3,000. The cops and the prosecutor 
got nothing except a note back from the jury that said, "not enough evidence."

And a dozen defendants went free.

A failed 1996 drug roundup in Bell County shows how police can be burned by 
unreliable informants, bad recordings and their own missteps.

In the Bell cases, informant Ricky Adkins was sent to make secret 
audiotapes of drug buys with a hidden recorder -- but the tapes turned out 
to be either blank or garbled, court records show.

State police Det. Alice Chaney, then a 15-year veteran with several 
commendations, was running the investigation. When she was named Post 10 
Trooper of the Year in 1990, her boss wrote that no case was too 
complicated for her.

Had Chaney checked the tapes soon after getting them -- as police say she 
should have -- she would have discovered the problem and could have tried 
again.

Instead, Chaney testified, she didn't listen to the tapes until later.

In all, a dozen people were indicted in the roundup.

But Bell Commonwealth's Attorney Karen Blondell said she didn't learn of 
the tape problem until her office was preparing for the first trial -- a 
cocaine-trafficking case against Derrick "Bugsy" Hariston, 26.

"It's disappointing, but you have got to do the best you can with what 
you're brought by the police," Blondell said in a recent interview. "I'll 
say this -- it was embarrassing."

Even without tapes, Blondell decided to take the Hariston case to trial 
with testimony from Adkins and Chaney.

Chaney testified that she had worked about 400 drug cases in one 10-month 
period.

Defense attorney Jennifer Nagle bore down on the tape issue, according to a 
transcript.

Nagle: "That tape is totally blank?"

Chaney: "Yes ma'am."

Nagle: "That tape had to be turned off, didn't it?"

Chaney: "It was either turned off or the tape recorder wasn't working."

Hariston denied selling cocaine to Adkins, saying it was a case of mistaken 
identity. Jurors acquitted Hariston, writing "not enough evidence" on the 
verdict form.

Charges against the other 11 Bell County defendants were eventually 
dismissed because of the poor quality of the tapes and problems locating 
Adkins, according to state police files.

Adkins could not be reached for comment.

Chaney testified that for working as an informant, Adkins received a 
standard payment of $100 for each felony drug buy he made and $50 for each 
misdemeanor. That would have totaled more than $3,000 for the charges 
listed in the 12 Bell County indictments.

Chaney resigned from the state police in April 2000. She recently said she 
suffers post-traumatic stress disorder from her service as a state-police 
officer and receives federal and state disability payments.

"It bothered me a lot ... when those things started going to trial and the 
complications started happening," Chaney said, though she did not recall 
specific details of the 1996 drug roundup.

State police Maj. Mike Sapp said that a few years ago, some detectives 
doing street-level drug investigations out of regional posts -- such as 
Harlan, where Chaney worked -- didn't have enough training in such work. 
Nor were post-level supervisors specifically trained to oversee such 
investigations, Sapp said.

The Kentucky State Police now trains detectives who do drug investigations 
to listen to audiotapes of undercover buys soon after the transactions, 
Sapp said. Also, supervisors now get specific training in narcotics 
investigations, he said.

Sapp also said the state police had problems with recording equipment at 
the time of the Bell County roundup. The agency has since upgraded its 
equipment.

Prosecutor Blondell said she also has a new policy: She or someone in her 
office listens to undercover tapes before presenting a case to the grand jury.
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart