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Newsbrief:
This
Week's
Corrupt
Cop
Story
7/18/03
After a brief hiatus, the
corrupt cop weekly feature returns. This week, we go to North Carolina,
where the leader of the Robeson County Sheriff's drug task force has resigned
amidst allegations he falsified evidence to obtain search warrants.
Lt. C.T. Strickland resigned June 27, although that information was not
publicly known until last weekend.
Strickland had been placed
on administrative leave after his credibility was questioned in court.
North Carolina Superior Court Judge Gregory Weeks had thrown out evidence
in a drug case in September after learning Strickland had lied to obtain
a search warrant in the case. In his affidavit to a magistrate to
obtain a search warrant for the home of Christopher Logan and Gary McLean
in Red Springs, Strickland wrote that he had an informant make a drug buy
at the house under his supervision.
Logan and McLean were arrested
and charged with selling crack cocaine, but during proceedings in the case,
defense attorneys presented evidence showing that Strickland's informant
had never been in the house, had not bought drugs there, had never worked
any other cases with Strickland, and in fact, had only met Strickland the
day before the search warrant application was made. This prompted
Judge Weeks to throw out the evidence that grew from the bogus search warrant
affidavit and to rule that Strickland had "knowingly" provided false information
to the magistrate to obtain the warrant.
Perjury is a Class F felony
in North Carolina, punishable by up to 68 months in prison, but Robeson
County District Attorney Johnson Britt has yet to decide whether to charge
Strickland, the Fayetteville Observer reported. Nor have Robeson
County authorities asked the State Bureau of Investigation to look into
the incident, Fayetteville district supervisor Jerry Weaver told the newspaper.
Britt dropped the charges
against Logan and McLean, but there is no word yet on whether he will review
other cases made by Strickland during the eight years he headed the drug
task force.
-- END --
|
Issue #296, 7/18/03
Editorial: Tragic Confusion |
Medical Marijuana Eroding Capitol Hill Prohibition Consensus -- Democrats Also On Attack against Drug Czar, Drug War in General |
With Hip-Hopper's Support, NY Governor Tries Again on Rockefeller Law Reform -- Not Good Enough, Say Critics |
Bush, Ashcroft Ask Supreme Court for Permission to Punish Doctors Who Recommend Medical Marijuana |
DRCNet Book Review: "Bad Neighbor Policy: Washington's Futile War on Drugs in Latin America," by Ted Galen Carpenter (2003, Palgrave Macmillan, $24.95) |
Newsbrief: North Carolina Prosecutor Charges Methamphetamine Cook with Terrorist Offense |
Newsbrief: Whites Benefit from California's Proposition 36 Disproportionately, UCLA Study Finds |
Newsbrief: No Needle Exchange in Delaware -- Lack of Political Support Cited |
Newsbrief: Colombian Supreme Court Blocks President's Effort to Recriminalize Drug Possession |
Newsbrief: Brazil to Cooperate in Andean Drug Plane Shoot-Down Strategy |
Newsbrief: Peru to Modify Drug Penalties -- One Step Forward, One Step Back, Some Standing in Place |
Newsbrief: Legalize It, Says Canada's National Post |
Newsbrief: This Week's Corrupt Cop Story |
Web Scan: CEDRO, Foreign Policy, Reason, Nation, Working for Change, Washington Post, Molly Ivins, usfumigation.org, UN Report, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Sentencing Project |
The Reformer's Calendar
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