Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 23, 1993 TAG: 9304230251
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Short
He wound up in front of a Roanoke jury this week, charged with distributing crack and facing 40 years in prison.
Assistant Public Defender Greg Phillips said the case was an all-too-easy mistake made by police who arrest drug dealers every day.
"Their theory of the case was where there's smoke there's fire," Phillips said. "The fact that William Becks was a young black male in a high-crime area - just because of that he's [assumed] guilty."
Becks lives in a neighborhood blighted by crack houses, and his route to Melrose Park the afternoon of Feb. 1 led him past one.
From 170 yards away, a vice detective was watching the 18-year-old from a van parked in an alley. He testified Tuesday that he saw Becks walk past the crack house and place his hand on the front porch.
When police checked the spot a few minutes later, two rocks of crack were lying on the porch. And when Becks was questioned, police found $187 in cash stuffed in his pocket.
Becks said the money was to pay his family's power bill; his mother later corroborated that in testimony.
Before the trial, Phillips warned his client that Roanoke juries have a reputation for being tough on crack dealers - almost all of them young, inner-city black males.
The concern was that the jury might draw the same assumption that Phillips accused police of making.
"Sadly, it's an assumption that I understand . . . but I think it's wrong," he said.
So did the jury. It found Becks not guilty.
by CNB