THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, January 5, 1996 TAG: 9601050457
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LYNN WALTZ, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 84 lines
A federal judge may have opened a Pandora's box last month by dismissing drug charges because of defendants' claims that the charges were racially motivated, federal prosecutors said Thursday.
Lawyers in federal courts in Norfolk and Richmond have filed ``copycat'' motions, seeking to have charges against their clients dismissed because they are black. Attorneys in both cases alleged that blacks have been unfairly targeted for prosecution in federal drug cases in Eastern Virginia.
Prosecutors say this might be the beginning of a flurry of motions that could affect virtually every federal drug case against black defendants in Virginia's Eastern District.
In the Richmond case, a federal judge turned down a motion Thursday to dismiss capital murder and heroin distribution charges against Robert Williams and Marvin Damon.
In the Norfolk case, late last week, a lawyer for Eltrentrose F. Liverman filed a motion to dismiss charges of conspiracy to distribute powder cocaine, crack cocaine and heroin. Prosecutors filed a response to that motion on Thursday, but there has been no ruling by the court.
In both cases, lawyers cited actions by federal Judge Raymond Jackson in Norfolk, who on Dec. 21 dismissed drug indictments against Anthony Olvis and Angela Palmer.
Jackson ruled that defense attorneys had provided enough evidence, including statistics on the race of drug defendants, to raise serious questions about whether Olvis and Palmer, both black, were prosecuted because of their race.
Prosecutors have reacted angrily to Jackson's ruling, saying they have not engaged in selective prosecution of blacks and that the legal fallout could be extensive.
``The impact is going to be astronomical because everybody is jumping on the bandwagon,'' Assistant U.S. Attorney Fernando Groene said in Norfolk Thursday. ``The news of the outcome on this motion has traveled like wildfire through legal circles.''
Federal prosecutors in Richmond and Norfolk used statistics to back up their assertions that certain crimes tend to be committed by certain races. They argue that a ``quota system'' would keep them from prosecuting those crimes.
And, since violent drug gangs have plagued black communities, if they stop prosecution, they could be accused of racism, they argue.
``If police or federal authorities were to ignore this, they might be condemned as racist,'' prosecutors wrote in court papers. ``To ignore this problem would be to abandon the poorest black communities to the guns and whims of people like (defendants) Williams and Damon.''
The case filed in Norfolk involves drug indictments against Liverman and eight other people. The indictment says members of the gang moved from Brooklyn, N.Y., to Virginia Beach and Norfolk to distribute heroin, powder cocaine and crack cocaine. The gang allegedly used violence to collect thousands of dollars in drug debt, the indictments say. They allegedly tied up debtors' wives and locked their children in closets while they tortured them for the money, Groene said.
In court papers filed Thursday, Groene cited federal sentencing commission statistics showing certain crimes are committed primarily by certain races. If the courts find that blacks have been victims of selective prosecution, he said, whites can similarly claim discrimination.
More than 90 percent of those sentenced for trafficking in crack cocaine were black, according to the 1994 sentencing report. Meanwhile, more than 90 percent of those sentenced for trafficking in LSD, antitrust violations and pornography and prostitution were white.
Prosecutors in the Richmond case argued that police statistics showed that 95 percent of those arrested for murder in Richmond the past two years were black; 90 percent of the victims were black.
While prosecutors have asked for an expedited appeal in the Olvis case, Groene said the effect of copycat cases could slow the judicial process.
``All you need is one defendant in every drug conspiracy case to file the motion and it stops the whole trial process. You can't proceed to trial,'' Groene said. ``Judges are going to realize their calendars are going to be completely disturbed by these copycat motions. There's no end to it.''
Two conspiracy cases related to the Olvis case were continued on Thursday pending the outcome of the appeal in the Olvis case. Motions have been filed in both those cases asking for dismissal on the basis of selective prosecution.
KEYWORDS: DRUG ARREST DISMISSAL FEDERAL COURT by CNB