Pubdate: Wed, 25 Aug 1999
Source: Roanoke Times (VA)
Copyright: 1999 Roanoke Times
Contact:  201 W. Campbell Ave., Roanoke, Va. 24010
Website: http://www.roanoke.com/roatimes/index.html
Author: Michael Hemphill

A JUDGE TRIMMED THE 46-COUNT INDICTMENT TO 42 

$50,000 Prison Marijuana Ring Case Goes To Federal Jury

Michael Fulcher and his mother say it was an undercover operation to
bust dirty guards who allowed pot within prison walls, and that a DEA
agent knew about it.

A federal jury is expected to get the case today of former Drug
Enforcement Administration informant Michael Fulcher and four
associates who are on trial on charges they ran a $50,000 marijuana
ring inside a state prison.

Federal prosecutors rested their case Tuesday morning, their sixth day
of evidence, against Fulcher; his mother, Ethel V. Fulcher, and wife,
Rosanna Sue Nichols, both of Roanoke; inmate Alvin G. Garcia; and
ex-guard William C. King.

Attorneys for the five accused put on a few witnesses and finished
their case Tuesday afternoon. Their clients will go in today with four
less charges than they initially faced, after U.S. District Judge
Jackson Kiser on Tuesday trimmed the 46-count indictment to 42.

The indictment alleged that then-inmate Fulcher and the others
conspired to sell about $50,000 of marijuana inside Bland Correctional
Center from 1995 to 1997 and launder drug profits.

In addition, Michael Fulcher, 40, and Ethel Fulcher, 65, faced two
counts of using false names to obtain two Roanoke post office boxes --
the addresses where inmates mailed money orders to pay for their
marijuana . Kiser dismissed these charges Tuesday. Ethel Fulcher did
use fictitious names such as her deceased parents as "recipients," but
she wrote down her real name to apply for the boxes.

Over Fulcher attorney David Whaley's objections, Kiser let stand the
most serious charge facing Fulcher -- continuing a criminal
enterprise, which carries a possible life sentence. Whaley argued that
Fulcher was a victim of selective prosecution. Another Bland inmate,
Calvin E. Knick, sold just as much marijuana for a longer period of
time than Fulcher and wasn't charged as severely, Whaley said.

Fulcher's mother, however, scored another point with the dismissal of
an obstruction of justice charge. Prosecutors claimed she tried to
persuade a Fulcher acquaintance, Teresa Paynotta, to destroy letters
written by Fulcher and hand-delivered by King seeking Paynotta's help
in getting marijuana. Prosecution evidence showed that Ethel Fulcher
had called Paynotta to ask what she did with the letters.

Concerning the Paynotta letters, Kiser also dismissed a charge against
King and Michael Fulcher that claimed they attempted to possess
marijuana. Delivering the letters showed that the men "prepared," but
did not attempt, to get drugs, Kiser said.

"If I go out and buy a gun to rob a bank, have I attempted to rob a
bank?" the judge rhetorically asked Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Mott.

Although this was King's only alleged illegal act mentioned in the
indictment, Kiser did not dismiss the marijuana conspiracy charge
against the 30-year-old Wytheville man. King, the only defendant to
testify, denied the charge against him.

When the jury gets the case, the Fulchers will still face the
conspiracy charges and multiple counts of money-laundering. Fulcher
and his mother claim the drug ring was an undercover operation begun
by Fulcher to bust dirty guards who allowed pot to flow as freely as
water within prison walls. Fulcher said he hoped his work -- which a
DEA agent knew about -- would get him a reduction in the 48-year
sentence he's serving for various thefts in Bedford County.

Rosanna Nichols' attorney, Gerald Zerkin, argued Tuesday that
prosecutors presented no evidence that his 46-year-old client knew
anything about the drug-trafficking.

Kiser admitted the case against her was very thin. But the judge
called it "suspicious" that during one visit to Bland, she was seen
tucking an envelope of money into the sun visor of a car for a guard
to get. Kiser said he'd let the jurors decide the issue, and, if they
convict, he will entertain a motion to have the verdict overturned.

Garcia's charges also remained intact, though his case rests on the
credibility of the convicted rapists and murderers whom prosecutors
called to the stand. An admitted marijuana user, Garcia, 34, denies
selling for Fulcher. Inmates who testified to the contrary also
admitted that they either lied about Garcia's role or failed to recall
it to investigators and the grand jury. 
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