Notable Cases (page 3)
State v. O. Miller, (Fulton County Superior Court, 1986)
The Defendant was charged with felony shoplifting at Rich’s Department Store in Atlanta. The store employees testified to seeing the Defendant pick up items and place them in a bag. The Defendant was arrested by store security while in the dressing room. The defense vigorously cross examined the employees and got conflicting stories. The jury acquitted the Defendant was of all charges. The defense later sued Rich’s for false arrest and received an out-of-court settlement. The Defendant was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Doris Downs who has been appointed as a Superior Court Judge. The Defendant was represented by Dwight L. Thomas
State v. R. Reid, (Dekalb County Superior Court, 1985)
Dekalb narcotics agents went to a residence and made undercover buys of cocaine. The Defendant was charged with the sale of cocaine. At trial, the Defendant’s identical twin brother, who was also at the residence at the time of the buys, but unknown to the officers, appeared in court and sat at the defense table. The officers were unable to identify which brother in fact was the seller and the jury acquitted the Defendant of all counts. The Defendant was represented by Dwight L. Thomas.
State v. Rico Saggus, (Henry County Superior Court, 2000)
The Defendant and another man were arrested in Henry County pursuant to a two- kilogram reverse sting buy-bust. The police seized $60,000 from the Defendants. Both Defendants were charged with trafficking cocaine. The co-defendant pled guilty and was sentenced to 15 years. The Defendant, Rico Saggus, terminated his former attorney and hired Dwight L. Thomas, P.C. A motion to suppress was filed arguing that the reverse sting was illegal and the police could not act as undercover sellers of cocaine. The Georgia Supreme Court considered similar arguments in Dean v. Gober, 272 Ga. 20 (1999) and imposed some restrictions on law enforcement reverse stings thereby giving support to Saggus’s motion to suppress. The District Attorney reluctantly allowed Saggus to plead to conspiracy to possess cocaine with 4 years probation under the drug first offender act even though the Defendant had prior felonies. (Good things come to those who wait. Patience is not only a virtue, but also a reward because the co- defendant in this case is serving 15 years.) The Defendant was represented by Dwight L. Thomas.
Walter Hall v. Thomas Brown, Dekalb County Sheriff (Dekalb County, 2002)
The Petitioner was charged with trafficking cocaine. In a petition for habeas corpus, the Petitioner, Walter Hall, alleged that he was denied the following constitutional rights: (1) the right to personally and intelligently participate in the waiver of jury trial; (2) the right to the effective assistance of trial counsel throughout trial; and (3) the right to effective assistance of counsel on appeal. The trial court (Cynthia Becker) found that there was no showing that the Petitioner personally, knowingly, voluntarily and intelligently waived his right to a jury trial. The trial court further found that the Petitioner’s trial counsel was ineffective in failing to apprise the difference between a bench and a jury trial to the Petitioner and failing to insure that the record reflected such an apprisal. Finally, the trial court found that the Petitioner’s first appellate counsel was ineffective for failing to raise the issue of the Petitioner’s deprivation of his constitutional right to a jury trial on direct appeal. The trial court granted the Petitioner’s Writ of Habeas Corpus. The State did not appeal. The Petitioner was represented by Caprice R. Jenerson.
State v. Senator Van Streat, (Fulton Superior Court, 2002)
Democratic State Senator Donnie “Levan” Streat from Nicholls, Georgia was indicted in January2002, by the State Attorney General and charged with violating his oath of office and making false statements to GBI agents. The indictment alleged that Senator Streat accepted eight thousand dollars ($8,000.00) in payments from a convicted murderer, disguised as campaign contributions, in exchange for helping the inmate get a parole or a transfer to a less secure prison. The inmate, Ron Gaither, had already twice escaped from prison. The defense argued that the payments received from Gaither’s girlfriend were in fact legitimate campaign contributions, that there was no illegal quid pro quo (or promise to the inmate) and that many legislators and public officials make contacts to the parole board on behalf of inmates seeking parole. The defense subpoenaed thousands of documents showing legislator contacts to the parole board on the behalf of prisoners, and some while receiving campaign contributions. The defense showed that moving murder inmates to less secure locations was not unusual as historically all inmates who work at the Governor’s mansion are convicted murderers. The problem with this case was that some of the eight thousand dollars ($8,000) was reported as campaign contributions and part was used to buy a truck which was used for campaign purposes but not reported on the campaign disclosure forms and that the Senator allegedly told the GBI that he reported all of the payments as campaign contributions. At the inception of the case the defense requested the Attorney General to withhold indictment until the defense could investigate the case. The Attorney General, Thurbert Baker, refused and the defense took a hard line approach of “take no prisoners” and “hard ball, hats, and bats.” The defense filed motions to dismiss the indictment based on selective prosecution and threatened to have a public hearing and expose every legislator (prior to the election), including then Republican Gubernatorial Candidate Sonny Perdue (and now Governor), and many others, of making contacts to the parole board on the behalf of convicted felons. That motion also included allegations that the Attorney General had done the same thing when he was a legislator and that the defense had Baker’s administrative aide (Sam Tillman) on tape directing persons at the parole board to destroy records showing that then Representative Baker had also made contacts and received contributions on the behalf of inmates. Governor Roy Barnes stepped in and took the Attorney General’s office off Senator Streat’s case and appointed a special prosecutor. After several months of negotiations with the special prosecutor the charges were dismissed without the need to expose and embarrass a number of public officials. The Attorney General threw a hard ball pitch at Senator Streat and the Senator’s defense team hit a line drive back to the pitcher’s mound and knocked out one of the Attorney General’s henchmen (Tillman) for the rest of the season – forever – he was fired, prosecuted, and convicted and Senator Streat won and went free. Senator Streat was represented by Craig Gillen, Dwight Thomas, Brad Gardner, and Dana Harrell.
State v. S. Wise, (Dekalb County Superior Court 1995)
The Defendant was charged with rape, incest, and molestation of his biological daughter when she was aged 12 through 14. The daughter was 16 years old at the time of trial and testified that the crimes occurred when she lived with her dad and his girlfriend. The evidence at trial showed that the daughter was unruly, disobedient and often expressed her dissatisfaction with her father’s strict rules of discipline. A State psychologist testified that the child exhibited symptoms of sexual abuse. The jury acquitted the Defendant of all counts. The Defendant was represented by Dwight L. Thomas and Stephanie Moore.
State v. H. Wright, (Dekalb County Superior Court, 1997)
The victim claims she was taken to the hotel by the Defendant and his friends and the Defendant raped her in the bathroom and in the jacuzi tub. The victim left the hotel with the Defendant, and was taken home by the Defendant. The hotel security saw them leave and saw nothing unusual. The Defendant was acquitted of rape and aggravated assault. The Defendant was convicted of misdemeanor simple battery for biting her and he was given time served and released from jail immediately. The Defendant was represented by Dwight L. Thomas and Stephanie Moore.
U.S. v. S. Beamer, (N.D.Ga. 1998)
The Defendant was a U.S. Penitentiary Correctional Officer and counselor charged with aggravated sexual assault on an inmate. The victim alleged that the Defendant forced him to perform oral sex on the Defendant for a period of seven months, at least twice a month. The victim claimed that on the last incident, he spit the semen into an empty pill bottle unknown to the Defendant. The victim testified that he smuggled the sample out of the federal prison in his rectum, gave it to his federal public defender, who in turn gave it to the Government prosecutors. An FBI expert witness testified that DNA analysis of the semen sample revealed that the semen was the Defendant’s. DNA experts for the defense did not challenge that conclusion, but showed that there was no DNA of the victim detected in the sample. The Defense, through experts, showed that if the victim had in fact spit the semen from his mouth, then DNA from his saliva and epithelial cells would have had to be present in the sample. The Defense also included an HIV expert because the alleged victim was HIV positive and the Defendant twice tested negative for HIV over one year after the alleged incidents. Another inmate alleged that the Defendant sexually assaulted him, although he had no physical proof. The jury deliberated for two and one half days and returned a verdict of not guilty on all counts after an Allen charge was given. The Defendant was represented by Dwight L. Thomas and Jo Ann Fields
U.S. v. N. Zapata, (N.D. Ga. 1999)
Luis Bernal (a Dominican) was driving a gold Navigator when stopped by Lowndes County deputies. A consent search (drug dogs) yielded 25 kilos of crack cocaine in a hidden electronically controlled compartment. Several days later Bernal implicated Nelson Zapata as the owner of the cocaine (largest crack cocaine seizure in the southeast). Bernal alleged that Zapata delivered the vehicle to him and told him to drive it to Atlanta. The vehicle contained lease papers in the name of J.R., but contained Zapata’s pocket organizer, business papers, and his fingerprints were lifted from the documents. Nelson Zapata was arrested at his home and no drugs, money, or drug records were found. The dogs alerted to Zapata’s black Navigator in his driveway and his white Navigator at an impounded lot. The trial court suppressed the dog alert evidence. Luis Bernal together with several jail snitches were the basis of the government’s case. Bernal pled guilty one week before trial. During his plea, Bernal stated that Zapata’s only role was that Zapata was to pay Bernal for driving the vehicle. The Government offered Nelson Zapata a plea to misprision of a felony (three year statutory maximum) and Zapata rejected it. On the specially set day of trial, the Government moved for continuance on the grounds that Bernal’s story changed because of witness tampering. The Court granted the continuance over defense objection, but ordered a report within two weeks. The next day, the Government reported that the tampering could not be supported and a motion to dismiss the indictment was made and granted. The Defendant was represented by Dwight L. Thomas.
U.S. v. Reginald Burney, (N.D. Ga. 2001)
The Defendant, a former Atlanta police officer, was indicted with Gold Club owner Steve Kaplan and fourteen other Gold Club (famous strip club) employees and charged with racketeering, extortion, money laundering, and obstruction of justice. The Government alleged that the Gold Club, its employees and associates, which included Mr. Burney, who served as a consultant to Steve Kaplan after his retirement from the police force, were in fact earners for the Gambino (mafia) crime family which included Michael DiLeonardo, a co-defendant and alleged capo for John Gotti and the Gambinos. The Government called mobsters who are now in the witness protection program, in addition to numerous other witnesses (and celebrity athletes – Patrick Ewing, former New York Knicks center and Andruw Jones, outfielder for the Atlanta Braves) to show police corruption, interstate prostitution, credit card fraud, tax evasion, money laundering, witness tampering, and extortion of strip clubs in Atlanta, New York, and Florida. The Government sought to forfeit fifty (50) million dollars in profits Kaplan made from the Gold Club over a six (6) – year period. After three (3) months of trial, the Government succumbed to a plea offer to Kaplan for a maximum of three (3) years and a five (5) million dollar fine plus the Gold Club. The Government inherited a million-dollar mortgage. Kaplan insisted that in exchange for his plea the Government must offer probation to all co-defendants with the exception of DiLeonardo who would not plead guilty to anything. Burney rejected the probation offer and continued trial for another month with DiLeonardo. After four (4) days of deliberation, Burney and DiLeonardo were both found not guilty of all counts. Burney was represented by Dwight L. Thomas, Dana Harrell, and Brad Gardner. DiLeonardo was represented by Craig Gillen.
U.S. v. Simms & Tomlinson, (N.D. Ga. 2000)
The Defendants were citizens of Canada. They were arrested by ATF agents together with a local female by the name of Detra Thomas and charged with violating 18 U.S.C. § 924(a)(1) (making false statements on ATF form 4473 as to the true identity of the actual purchaser of a weapon). This is what is referred to as a “straw purchaser” transaction. The two (2) Defendants arrived in the United States on October 29,1999, met Ms. Thomas on November 6, 1999 and were arrested on November 6, 1999 after Ms. Thomas purchased four guns from the Candler Road Pawn Shop in Decatur, Georgia. Ms. Thomas previously made over fifty (50) purchases of guns for another individual and some of those guns turned up at crime scenes outside of Georgia and the GBI/ATF had “flagged” her. When Ms. Thomas was arrested, she had two hundred dollars $200 dollars in cash and a Canadian $20 dollar bill in her possession. The four guns were in the trunk of the vehicle rented by the Defendants in Canada. Thomas pled guilty and testified that she was paid $50 per gun to make the purchases and given the $20 dollar bill as a souvenir. A fourth individual in the car (a friend of the Defendants and also a Canadian who lived in Atlanta), but was not indicted, also testified for the Government. The Defense attorneys argued that the Government’s case lacked integrity (plea agreements, prior inconsistent statements, etc.). The defense attacked the Government’s star witness, Detra Thomas, as unworthy of belief since she pled guilty and cut a deal with the Government in exchange for her testimony against Tomlinson and Simms. The Defense put up one witness, Tomlinson. The Defendants were acquitted of all charges. This is the first “straw purchase” case lost by the ATF in the Northern District. The Defendants were represented by Dwight L. Thomas, Cynthia Roseberry, and Chris Jensen for the co-defendant.