Pot times July 15, 2005

One By One, Ex-Cops Face Judge's Justice

URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n1118/a10.html
Newshawk: chip

Pubdate: Thu, 14 Jul 2005
Source: Knoxville News-Sentinel (TN)
Copyright: 2005 The Knoxville News-Sentinel Co.
Contact: letters@knews.com
Website: http://www.knoxnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/226
Author: Jamie Satterfield
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/corrupt.htm (Corruption - United States)

ONE BY ONE, EX-COPS FACE JUDGE'S JUSTICE

Apologies And Tears Mark Final Chapter In Police Brutality Case

Gerald David Webber Jr.: He stood before U.S.  District Court Judge Tom Varlan with the same sort of coolness with which he directed the July 2004 attack on Lester Eugene Siler.

Webber, former narcotics chief for the Campbell County Sheriff's Office, was the deputy who rounded up four of his badge-wearing comrades and headed out to the convicted drug dealer's White Oak community trailer, where Siler was beaten and tortured.

Facing Varlan, Webber remained stoic and his voice calm as he offered a simple apology.

"I'm acutely aware of the public trust I violated," he said.  "For this, I apologize to Mr.  Siler, the public and the court.  Please be assured I will not be back before this court for any wrongdoing."

Assistant U.S.  Attorney Charles Atchley urged Varlan to put Webber behind bars for five years.

"Who do you go to when the police are bad?" Atchley asked.  "Who does a citizen turn to? This was ( Webber's ) arrest.  His voice is contained throughout the tape.  It's chilling and inexcusable, and Mr.  Webber, who was a senior law enforcement officer, when confronted with it lies under oath about it -- a sworn law enforcement officer."

Defense attorney Lee Asbury said Webber was offering no excuses for his crime and gladly would lecture other law enforcement officers as part of a community service penance.

"Both I and Mr.  Webber know his actions and inactions were inexcusable," Asbury said.  "We respectfully ask your honor to consider all the facts."

Varlan said it was clear to him Webber was a leader in the attack on Siler and, as such, should face a higher penalty than his three former fellow lawmen.

"There was a proper way to go about that arrest that day," Varlan said as he handed Webber a 57-month prison term.

Of the five deputies involved in the attack, only Joshua Monday, who pleaded guilty to the more serious offense of brandishing a gun during the incident, received a higher sentence.  Monday was sentenced Tuesday to six years in prison.

Samuel R.  Franklin: "To me, he was a great individual," 15-year-old Alex Farmer said of the veteran detective and former DARE officer.

Farmer, a student in Franklin's DARE program five years ago, joined former child-abuse investigator Wanda Snodgrass and Campbell County school employee David Wright as character witnesses for Franklin Wednesday.

Each of them described a gentle man who loved children and served his community.  None of them could reconcile that man with the person captured on audiotape cursing Siler and threatening to beat him with a slapjack.

Attorney Andrew Roskind asked Varlan to give Franklin "a second chance," requesting probation for a man Roskind said had made a grave mistake in an otherwise good life.

"This one event should not obscure all the good deeds, his history, his life," Roskind said.

But Atchley argued that Franklin should not get some sort of credit for living a life he was expected, as a law enforcement officer, to live.

"The hard thing about these type of cases is invariably they are going to ( involve ) individuals who are well thought of in the community," he said.  "They're police officers.  ...  Mr.  Franklin was the senior man that day.  All he had to do was say, 'This is getting out of control.  We need to stop.'

"He didn't do that," Atchley said.  "In fact, he did the exact opposite."

A tearful Franklin expressed regret for his actions and asked Varlan for "a new beginning."

"I was raised better by my parents," Franklin said.  "Your honor, on July 8, ( 2004 ), I did not honor my father and mother, and that hurts me."

Varlan sentenced Franklin to 54 months.

"Given your past, you have in certain respects let the most people down," Varlan said.

Shayne Green: He may not have launched the attack, but he enjoyed it once it got started, Atchley said of Green.

"He absolutely went nuts," Atchley said.

It was Green who "hooked a battery charger to Mr.  Siler's nose" and Green who helped Monday push Siler's head toward "a feces-filled toilet," Atchley said.

"In many ways, Mr.  Green was the most physically abusive one there that day," Atchley said.

But Green was also the least trained, attorney Kim Parton countered.

Green was a volunteer fire department chief who only worked part time for the Campbell County Sheriff's Office, she said.  He had never received law enforcement training.

"This man was on vacation," she said.  "He was not even on duty ( that day ).  He was asked to come and help on this raid ostensibly because he was the only one who could catch someone.  Unfortunately, he agreed to go, and, unfortunately, he agreed to participate."

Parton also referred to some "mental-health issues" suffered by Green, who was so jittery at Wednesday's hearing that Parton said he could not bring himself to speak on his own behalf.

"( Green ) was not equipped to handle the stress of what turned into an emotional response," Parton said.  "Mr.  Green was more of a follower."

Varlan was unmoved by the argument, giving Green the same 54-month prison term he handed Franklin.

"Mr.  Green, while obviously you did not have the level of training of some of the others, there's only a certain level of training you need to ( know ) you don't do the things you did," Varlan said.

William Carroll: After reviewing Carroll's background, Atchley said he wondered just what the Campbell County Sheriff's Office was thinking when the agency hired Carroll as a process server.

Why, he wondered, would administrators put a mentally challenged man inside a patrol car and send him to enforce the law with not one hour of training?

"To say that this man should not have been a police officer is a huge understatement," he said.  "Quite frankly, it was disgraceful for the sheriff's department to put him out on the streets."

Federal Defender Beth Ford had the same question.

"He did not have the ability to be a sheriff's deputy," she said.  "The psychological evaluation is very clear on that."

For Atchley, however, Carroll's problems could not explain or excuse what Carroll did.  It was Carroll, Atchley revealed, who robbed Siler during the attack.

Atchley explained that when Carroll is heard on the audiotape repeatedly saying "thank ye," he was pocketing Siler's meager belongings.

"He's just a thief," Atchley said.  "He's just an abusive thief."

Ford argued that Carroll was "intimidated" by the other deputies and always has tried to live honestly and work hard.

"I'm sorry to Eugene and his family for what happened to him," Carroll said in a brief statement.

Although Varlan said Carroll "played a lesser role" than the others, it was still "an egregious breach of conduct," deserving of a 51-month sentence.

A visibly exhausted Varlan concluded Wednesday's marathon sentencing hearings with words of praise for the "passion" of the defense attorneys and the "investigation and prosecution" work by Atchley and the FBI.

Atchley said he was pleased with the result of this region's first successful prosecution of a civil-rights violation case.  He said he hopes it is the last.

"It was a very just result," he said.  "I think it will send an effective message of deterrence to those who would do such a thing."

Varlan, in an earlier comment from the bench, agreed.

"Perhaps this will serve as a reminder to all other law enforcement officers," he said.  "This is a serious offense.  It's one that needs to be addressed with serious consequences."