ROANOKE TIMES

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, March 9, 1993                   TAG: 9303090266
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DOUGLAS PARDUE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium


DRUG TRIAL OF LAWYER UNDER WAY

A federal court jury in Roanoke Monday was told it will have to determine if Christiansburg lawyer Keith Neely used his law practice to promote drug smuggling or was just a drunken cocaine addict.

In opening arguments at what is expected to be a three-week trial, Assistant U.S. Attorney Karen Peters said the government's case is "the tragic story of a young attorney" who went from a promising career "into a lifestyle just eaten up with drugs."

It is a story of the 1980s when cocaine was fashionable and easy money flowed. And Keith Neely, 43, willingly played a part to satisfy an "obsession" for drugs, money and the high life, Peters said.

Neely, Peters told the jury, went from being a lawyer for drug dealers to being a partner in drugs and money laundering.

Marvin Miller, Neely's Alexandria attorney, agreed with Peters that Neely's story is tragic. But, he said, it has been made all the more tragic by federal prosecutors and drug agents who have set out to get him.

He said Neely is just an alcoholic who began abusing cocaine as a way to keep him going when he was too hung over to carry on his law practice.

Somewhere along the line in his job as a defense attorney, Miller said, Neely angered federal prosecutors or agents who decided "let's just get this guy."

He accused prosecutors and agents of getting Neely by letting major drug dealers walk free with immunity in exchange for testimony. He accused the government's four main witnesses of inventing their testimony against Neely.

Miller also accused the prosecution of being so "overzealous" in its effort to get Neely that it ignored the truth and relied on liars. In an earlier hearing, U.S. District Court Judge Jackson Kiser rejected an effort by Miller to have the case thrown out because of prosecutorial misconduct.

The key government witness is Donald Kimbler, a 52-year-old former federal firearms agent who became a drug smuggler after he was fired for leaking confidential information. Kimbler had been serving a 15-year drug sentence from Florida but was allowed out of prison last month. He is dying of cancer, and because of his cooperation against Neely the government allowed him to go home to die.

His condition was so bad that some of his testimony for the trial was videotaped last month at a hospital prison in case he died before trial.

Kimbler is scheduled to appear today as the government's first main witness. However, he underwent chemotherapy Monday and federal prosecutors say he can testify only for about four hours a day. At that rate, his testimony is expected to take most of this week. Much of the rest of the days will be filled with introduction of technical financial and legal documents.

Peters says Kimbler will tell the jury that from 1986 to 1988 he and Neely became friends, fellow cocaine users and partners in smuggling cocaine from Florida to Montgomery County. Neely, acting as a middleman between Kimbler and other drug dealers he knew, got one-third of the profit in addition to drugs for personal use, she says.

She said the other key government witnesses will tell how Neely arranged other drug deals, stored drugs and drug money at his office and used his law practice to promote illicit drug deals. In one case, she said, Neely gave legal advice to a Giles County man on how to avoid arrest by growing marijuana on National Forest land.



by Archana Subramaniam by CNB