Pubdate: Sun, 22 Nov 2009
Source: Ledger-Enquirer (Columbus,GA)
Copyright: 2009 Ledger-Enquirer
Contact:  http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/enquirer/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/237
Author: Chuck Williams
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n1036/a02.html
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)

SHELNUTT SAYS PROSECUTION WAS NEVER AFTER TRUTH

Friday morning, the stack of newspapers on the counter beside Mark
Shelnutt's desk told the story.

"Shelnutt Acquitted," the 100-point headline read.

Since December of last year, the Columbus attorney's name has been in
headline after headline, proclaiming his connection and alleged
illegal activity involving a large Columbus drug operation.

Through the federal investigation, indictment and eight-day trial in
U.S. District Court, Shelnutt maintained his innocence of aiding and
abetting a conspiracy to distribute cocaine, money laundering, witness
tampering, making false statements, bribery and failure to file proper
financial forms for transactions of more than $10,000. A jury found
him not guilty on 36 counts Wednesday and U.S District Judge Clay Land
threw out four other charges during the trial.

"Since the first headline, I envisioned a headline 'Shelnutt
Acquitted,'" he said. "I was waiting for the day it was going to be on
the front of the paper."

During his trial, he declined to take the stand in his own defense,
but Friday morning Shelnutt sat down with the Ledger-Enquirer for 90
minutes to answer questions about the prosecution and charges against
him.

He was animated, his voice at times rising to make a
point.

The son of a United Methodist Church minister and the brother of
another, Shelnutt sounded like a preacher at times, peering across the
wooden desk of his cluttered Second Avenue law office.

Asked if he would continue to represent accused drug dealers, Shelnutt
paused.

"I will continue to represent people," Shelnutt said. "I will be a lot
more careful about it. I will not be as trusting of people. That's
what happened in this case."

Asked if he did anything wrong in the representation of Hill and
members of the drug ring, Shelnutt thought for a minute.

"If I had it to go back and do it over again, there are some things I
would have done differently," Shelnutt said. "My intentions in
everything in this case related to Torrance Hill was to do good. Maybe
we shouldn't have, in retrospect, represented as many people as we
did. I don't think we did anything wrong. I think the government used
that to cause problems and create wedges."

Rejecting a guilty plea

Shelnutt talked of a critical moment in the trial when prosecutors
offered him a guilty plea. It came on Monday after the defense rested
and before closing arguments and the case went to the jury.

The government's offer, Shelnutt said, was pleading guilty to one
count of failure to file proper financial forms for transactions of
more than $10,000. Ironically, Land had already dismissed both
indictment counts involving the filing requirements, called form 8300.

"The agreement was no more than one year to serve," Shelnutt said. "My
attorneys believed if we countered we could get a binding agreement to
no time."

Shelnutt's attorneys -- Tom Withers of Savannah and Craig Gillen of
Atlanta -- told Shelnutt the decision was his alone. He chose to roll
the dice through what would be eight hours of jury
deliberations.

"They throw 40 counts at me, and it comes down to one failure to file
piece," Shelnutt said. "I would lose my law license, but we could have
gone to the house. The sticking point to me is I was not giving up my
law license."

The prosecution, which announced Shelnutt's indictment in May with a
news release, declined to comment Friday about the details of its
failed effort. First Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Newman of the
Southern District of Georgia said the U.S. government's only response
would be the brief statement lead prosecutor Carlton Bourne Jr. made
following the trial.

Shelnutt had plenty to say. "They didn't want the truth," he said. "I
don't think this has ever been about the truth."

The government's case

The government's case against Shelnutt centered on his connection to
Torrance "Bookie" Hill, a convicted drug dealer Shelnutt represented
for about 10 years. Hill testified he paid Shelnutt $250,000. Shelnutt
said that was not true, putting the number at between $40,000 and
$50,000. Government witnesses testified Shelnutt, a former assistant
district attorney turned criminal defense lawyer, was flashing a lot
of cash between 2005 and 2007.

"They were saying the only place the money could come from was
Torrance Hill," Shelnutt said. "... What a joke. I had 369 cases open
and one of them was Torrance Hill."

One of the critical pieces of government evidence against Shelnutt was
an alleged $125,000 payment he took from Shawn Bunkley, one of Hill's
top drug runners.

The payment, which Bunkley claimed happened in the Publix parking lot
on Schomberg Road, never happened, Shelnutt said.

Shelnutt pointed to Bunkley's testimony, first before the grand jury
that indicted Shelnutt, then in front of the jury that acquitted him,
as a big part of the problem with the government's case.

Bunkley testified in front of the grand jury that the money came from
a $90,000 wire-transfer payment Bunkley received from the sale of one
of Hill's race cars. Bank records failed to back that up. Hill went
before the grand jury a second time and said the money came from drug
proceeds.

Shelnutt was angry at the government about Bunkley's
testimony.

"They knew he was lying, and they had the nerve to indict me for
giving false statements," Shelnutt said. "... He is telling people 'I
was giving money to Shelnutt,' but the only evidence of that was out
of his own mouth."

Bunkley was brought before Land for sentencing on Oct. 21, but the
judge rejected the plea agreement of less than 5 years in prison.

"The judge smelled the rat," Shelnutt said.

Shelnutt was also critical of the government's deal-cutting with
Hill's former wife, Tamika Hill, his girlfriend, Latea Davis, and his
cousin, Choici Lawrence. All were indicted in the drug conspiracy.

"Where's Latea? Where's Choici? Where's Tamika?" Shelnutt asked. "They
are all free as a bird. And they want to put me in prison?"

He expanded on his thoughts.

"I have never done anything but help those people," Shelnutt said.
"They found a way out. But I never would have thought their ticket to
freedom would come through me."

During the Friday morning Ledger-Enquirer interview, Shelnutt stressed
emphatically that the government had cut deals with real drug dealers
and even let some go free in order to put him behind bars. He said it
was a personal vendetta against him by Drug Enforcement Agency Special
Agent Steve Ribolla, FBI Agent Todd Kalish and Metro Narcotics Task
Force Agent John Memmo.

Criticism of agents

Shelnut saved his harshest criticism for the federal and local law
enforcement agents who helped make the case against him. He singled
out Ribolla, Kalish and Memmo. None of them testified against Shelnutt.

"It is the worst case of government corruption I have ever seen,"
Shelnutt said. "They had Torrance Hill, a direct connection to Mexico.
Why not try and work to cut off the supply to Mexico? Instead, they go
after me. They told Torrance Hill, a guy with a direct connection to
Mexico and involved in murders in Tennessee, they were only interested
in me."

Newman, the assistant U.S. attorney, would only say that not putting
the law enforcement officers on the stand was a "tactical decision."

Ribolla sat at the prosecution table for the first week of the trial
but left to go back home for a family emergency after the prosecution
rested its case.

Shelnutt pointed out what he saw as another hole in the government's
case. His ex-wife Chris Shelnutt, former law partner Ed Berry and
longtime secretary Brandy Rivera were not called as prosecution
witnesses. Chris Shelnutt did testify for the defense.

"They stayed away from the people who knew me best, and they stayed
away from the people who hated me the worst," Shelnutt said.

Parting shot

Some of Shelnutt's personal life came out in the trial. His ex-wife
testified that he wore a hair piece that sweeps down over his left
eyebrow because he has a scar created from a birth defect. He had
surgery when he was an infant and again when he was 16.

"It didn't work very well," Chris Shelnutt told the court. He has scar
tissue and doesn't have an eyebrow."

But that didn't hurt Shelnutt as bad as the prosecution's attempt to
paint him as a greedy lawyer.

"Did you notice, they never used the word 'greedy' in their closing
statement," Shelnutt said. "I am a lot of things, but I am not greedy."

Shelnutt then turned to a critical moment in Bourne's closing against
the government. At the time, Bourne pointed to the Latin words for law
and justice carved high in the wood above Land's bench.

It's up high for a reason, Bourne told the court.

"No one is above the law," he said as he asked the jury to return a
guilty verdict.

"This should scare everyone," Shelnutt said. "They say no one is above
the law, yet they let people go free and perjured evidence."
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