THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, March 14, 1996 TAG: 9603140384
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LYNN WALTZ, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Long : 106 lines
Prosecutors rested their case Wednesday after a key witness' dramatic testimony gave a clear example of why nearly every prosecution witness in the federal trial of purported drug gang members has said they were afraid to testify.
Five alleged members of Portsmouth's River Edge drug gang are charged with conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine in open-air drug markets at the entrance to the River Edge apartment complex.
Robert Winfield, a purported drug kingpin, and John Cobbs are charged with the attempted murder of Darwin Eady.
Eady took the jury back to July 30, 1995, six days after, he said, he had witnessed the cold-blooded murder of Mark Martin. Eady had told police that the man who shot Mark Martin through the back of the head was Winfield.
But he would have to pay for ``snitching'' on the gang, he testified. And the man who had come to collect was Winfield's right-hand man, Cobbs, Eady told the jury.
As Eady and Cobbs walked down Wallace Circle, he saw Cobbs drop back behind him, he testified. Then, from the corner of his eye, he spotted a long-barreled revolver in Cobbs' left hand.
Eady turned and grabbed the barrel, wrestling with Cobbs. As Eady lost his footing, the gun went off and a bullet ripped through Eady's left side, he said.
Eady ran. The gunman chased him through the apartment complex along Wallace Circle, Eady said.
``I ran. I looked back one time. He had his hand straight out,'' Eady testified. ``He shot me in the back four times.''
Eady said he was counting bullets because his life depended on it. He knew the gunman had one bullet left.
``My chest was swollen up real bad. I stood behind a telephone pole trying to dodge,'' Eady said. ``The last shot went through my head, and the blood rushed down my face. I landed on all fours beside the telephone pole. He put his foot on my butt, pushed me down and told me to die . . .''
But Eady didn't die. Somehow he survived, walking two blocks, begging people he saw to call an ambulance. Convinced he would die, he said, ``John did it. John did it.''
Eady came out of the hospital nearly two months later, missing parts of his lungs and intestines, and still carrying with him two of the bullets that nearly took his life.
Testimony on Wednesday by Robert Winfield's cousin, David E. Winfield, indicated that Robert Winfield allegedly ordered Eady's assassination from the Portsmouth jail cell where he was being held for the murder of Mark Martin.
``He called and told me he had found out who was really snitching and he had told me to tell John Cobbs to handle that for him,'' David Winfield testified Wednesday.
Eady's case is the most dramatic example of alleged witness intimidation by the gang.
Three men were barred from the courthouse last week after allegations of intimidation. Robert Winfield's father, Robert Veal, is being held without bond on charges he threatened a witness, and the FBI is still looking for a man, known only as Gary, on charges he intimidated a witness over the weekend.
Larry Torrence , the FBI agent in charge, called the case the worst example of witness intimidation he has seen in 27 years of service.
Witness problems continued Wednesday, as authorities took another material witness, Gary Brock, into custody after prosecutors alleged that he was hiding to avoid officials who were trying to serve him with a subpoena. Brock will be held in custody until the trial ends, prosecutors said Wednesday.
Also on the stand Wednesday, Eady recounted the killing of Mark Martin.
Martin, 21, had loaned his car to John Cobbs in exchange for crack cocaine, witnesses testified. When the car was not returned, Martin came back with a friend, Ron Curry, to get the car.
``They said something about John (Cobbs) giving them their car, or he was as good as shot,'' Eady said.
Eady said Robert Winfield went to his car and tucked a gun inside his pants. When the two men walked by, Winfield lifted the gun to shoulder height and began to fire, hitting Martin in the back of the head.
When Curry turned back and knelt by Martin's side to help him, Winfield shot him three times, once in the back, testimony showed.
Winfield wrapped the gun in his shirt and dumped it in Eady's lap, he testified. Eady in turn dropped the gun over a fence just before a police officer took him into custody.
``Everybody else took off running,'' Eady said. ``I'm looking at these guys laying in the street. The cop said `hey,' but I just kept walking and dropped the gun. A few seconds later, the officer handcuffed me.''
Eady went to police two days before he was shot to complain that a narcotics officer had told drug gang members that he was the snitch. A gang member had told Eady that ``a narcotics cop had said I was singing like a b----,'' Eady testified. ``I told them somebody in the police department was working with them and I felt my life was in jeopardy.''
Eady remains in a safe area, dependent on the FBI until he can rebuild his life, he told the jury. So far, he has been unable to find work, he said, because employers are afraid to hire him. MEMO: THE CHARGES
John Cobbs and Robert Winfield are charged with the attempted murder
of Darwin Eady. All five defendants are charged with conspiracy to
distribute crack cocaine in open-air drug markets at the entrance to
the apartment complex.
KEYWORDS: MURDER DRUG ARREST ASSAULT WITNESS INTIMIDATION
TRIAL DRUG TASK FORCE by CNB