THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, April 19, 1996 TAG: 9604190512
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ANGELITA PLEMMER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: Medium: 61 lines
Local prosecutors decided not to pursue drug charges against Nathaniel Richardson on Thursday so that charges can be filed against him in federal court, where penalties are stiffer.
Richardson, charged with conducting one of the biggest cocaine deals in the city's history, was arrested last year after police allegedly found him and two other men in a Southside Gardens apartment with $72,000 worth of crack cocaine.
Charles Wynder, an assistant commonwealth's attorney handling the case, asked a General District Court substitute judge to nolle pros (not prosecute) the charges involving the three men.
``The matter is all being brought up at the federal level,'' Wynder told Judge Edward McNew on Thursday.
Richardson and his co-defendants, Joseph Dodd, 25, and James Whittaker, 30, were charged with conspiracy, possession with intent to distribute cocaine, conspiracy and possession of firearms with drugs after police raided a 5th Street apartment last May.
Police found approximately 700 grams of crack cocaine.
At the time, Richardson was out on bail after he was charged with the March murder of a girlfriend, 19-year-old Telisha Johnson.
In Portsmouth, local law enforcement and federal officials are targeting suspected drug dealers in an attempt to curb the drug trade that has fueled the region's highest violent crime rate.
Ken Melvin, Richardson's attorney, said he knew his client had been targeted by federal officials under a joint task force created to combat drug-related violence and drug-trafficking in Portsmouth.
However, Melvin said, ``I don't know the nature of the federal involvement,'' adding that no federal charges had been filed as of Thursday.
Melvin argued that the judge should dismiss the three charges against Richardson because prosecutors did not have enough evidence linking him to the drugs.
``Their case was weak as water,'' Melvin said after the hearing.
By nolle prossing the charges, he said, the office of Commonwealth's Attorney Martin Bullock can resume prosecution of the case later.
Richardson is no newcomer to the city's justice system. He has been released on bail 25 times on charges that include murder and drug dealing, often to be charged with new crimes.
To some law enforcement officials, he has become one of the most striking examples of a revolving-door legal system in Portsmouth.
While Dodd and Whittaker are not in custody, Richardson remains in the Portsmouth city jail without bond on misdemeanor charges of assault and battery and disorderly conduct.
Richardson was charged in January after he allegedly hit a police officer while free on bail on earlier charges. He faces a maximum $2,500 fine and 12 months in jail for the misdemeanor charges.
KEYWORDS: DRUGS ILLEGAL CRACK COCAINE DRUG TRAFFICKING by CNB