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Judge asked to drop charges - Local case netted 50 pounds of coke

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Federal prosecutors yesterday requested dismissal of drug charges against a dozen defendants indicted in a Louisville case involving nearly 50 pounds of cocaine worth an estimated $2 million.

The announcement comes just a few weeks after prosecutors admitted their case was "substantially weakened" as a result of a U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals' decision barring wiretap evidence.

The men, who all faced potential life sentences and have long arrest records, are now expected to be released from jail within days.

The only charges that will remain are illegal firearms possession charges against Reginald S. Rice of Louisville, the man authorities believe headed a major drug-conspiracy operation in Louisville.

Attorney Keith Kamenish, who represents defendant Derrick Allen Smith, said he believes this is the first case in Kentucky in which evidence gained from wiretaps was suppressed.

The justice system "has to work for the least of people in order to work for all the people," he said.

Frank A. Mascagni III, who represents defendant Marshall Thomas Evans Jr., agreed, saying "we should all rejoice that the rule of law works whether you are black or white or rich or poor."U.S. Attorney David Huber expressed his disappointment in a press release and noted that prosecutors "vigorously disputed" that any error was made in gathering evidence.

"Nevertheless, the courts of this nation are the final arbiters of such issues and we accept and respect the ruling that has been made," he said.

In 2004, Rice and 11 co-defendants were indicted on charges of conspiring to traffic in cocaine. Authorities said they seized nearly 50 pounds of cocaine and more than $200,000 in cash.The other defendants are Jose-Alberto Jiminez-Huerta, German Jose Jiminez-Huerta, Demetrius Crenshaw, James Crenshaw, Terry Middleton, Yolanda Raymel Walker, Damon L. Sheppard, Terrell Gray and Montez Marcellus Moore.

Kamenish said once U.S. District Judge Thomas B. Russell gets the motion to dismiss from prosecutors, the judge will most likely release the defendants from jail.

While four of the defendants had already been released pending trial, eight have been held without bail since 2004.In the press release, Huber said two of the men are illegal immigrants who will be transferred to the custody of immigration authorities who have placed a hold on them for probable deportation.

The appeals court on July 31 refused to reconsider an earlier court order that said prosecutors cannot use evidence drawn from more than 4,000 tapped telephone calls because it was improperly collected.

Russell had previously ruled that agents with a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration drug task force failed to seriously consider or attempt less intrusive investigative methods before they tapped Rice's phones.

Federal statutes say that before asking a judge for permission to tap a telephone, the government first must try, or at least consider, less intrusive methods of investigation.

The case also focused attention on whether a government agent misled U.S. District Judge John Heyburn in an affidavit seeking permission to wiretap two phones of Rice of Louisville.

In his affidavit on June 23, 2004, FBI agent Scott Wenther said, "Physical surveillance of the subjects of this investigation has been conducted and is presently being conducted with only limited success. Physical surveillance has identified locations and vehicles utilized by members of this organization."

In a hearing on June 20, 2005, however, Wenther testified that agents had not conducted any surveillance of Rice.