Heroin distribution case postponed

Monday, January 28, 2013

A federal jury trial for eight men accused of operating a heroin distribution ring linked to two deaths and seven non-fatal overdoses among young adults and teenagers in Cabot will be heard in July, U.S. District Judge D. Price Marshall Jr. said Thursday.

Marshall gathered attorneys for the eight defendants in a Little Rock courtroom to discuss scheduling deadlines and potential pre-trial issues. When Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Gordon told the judge that he expects the trial to last four to six weeks, and defense attorneys agreed, Marshall suggested postponing the trial from April 29 until mid-summer, when his court docket is less crowded.

Marshall also suggested, and attorneys agreed, to include questions concerning pre-trial publicity and summer vacations in a questionnaire that will be sent to potential jurors several weeks before trial, to help weed out anyone who is overly familiar with the case or the parties, or cannot focus on the case for up to six weeks.

Later in the day, an attorney for the main defendant, Wallando “Wiley” Onezine, filed a motion seeking a change of venue, asking that Marshall hold the trial outside the Western and Pine Bluff divisions of the Eastern District of Arkansas. The Western division includes Pulaski and Lonoke counties, as well as nine other counties, and the Pine Bluff division includes nine counties in southeastern Arkansas.

Citing concerns about pretrial publicity, Assistant Federal Public Defender Molly Sullivan asked that Marshall instead hear the case in front of a jury selected from one of the district’s other three divisions - those centered in Jonesboro, Batesville and Helena-West Helena.

Sullivan argued in the motion that publicity about the case has threatened and will threaten Onezine’s right to a fair trial. She didn’t offer specifics about that or why she didn’t want jurors from the Pine Bluff division to hear the case, but said in the motion that the grounds for the request are set out in a brief and supporting exhibits filed simultaneously under seal.

Because of a prior drug conviction, Onezine faces a mandatory life sentence if convicted. He is charged in seven counts of a nine-count indictment.

During the Thursday morning hearing, Gordon, who is prosecuting the case alongside Assistant U.S. Attorney Chris Givens, revealed that some of the young people who survived heroin overdoses will testify at the trial. He noted that prosecutors paraded 12 to 14 witnesses before the grand jury that indicted Onezine and the others, and said he anticipates that close to 75 people will testify on the government’s behalf during the trial.

The judge said he understood that plea negotiations in the case are under way, and asked if perhaps fewer defendants will go to trial, and if that would shorten the length of the trial. Gordon said his office is working on negotiating plea agreements with six of the defendants, adding, “My assumption is we’ll be trying Mr. Onezine and one other defendant.”

He didn’t identify which of the defendants, besides Onezine, is likely to go to trial.

Gordon noted that regardless of how many people are tried, there will be a lot of medical testimony related to the two deaths and the autopsies, as well as a lot of “digital and electronic evidence,” and the testimony of informants who purchased heroin in an undercover capacity, as well as the survivors of overdoses.

Onezine, 40, who lives in Cabot but is originally from New Orleans, has been ordered detained until trial.

In a hearing last month, after listening to testimony from Agent Dale Van Dorple of the Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Magistrate Judge Beth Deere denied Onezine’s request to go free until trial, saying the government “appears to have a very strong case against him,” and the automatic life sentence he faces if convicted gives him the incentive to flee.

In that hearing, Gordon told the judge, “He started supplying 18- to 20-year-olds in Cabot. We have nine overdoses and two deaths. He’s the reason for Cabot’s heroin problem. Period.”

The overdose victims haven’t been publicly identified except by initials, but Van Dorple said the first fatal overdose, of “J.M.,” occurred on Oct. 27, 2011, in Cabot, and the second, of “D.H.,” occurred on March 24, 2012, in a hotel room in the Petit Jean area. Both victims were male.

In addition to Onezine, the defendants are Keith “Key” Sanders, 25, of Memphis; Devon McClain, 19, of Cabot; Mark Aaron “Zane” Pruitt, 22, of Jacksonville; Landon Cope, 21, of Little Rock; Justin Pennock, 27, of Cabot; Alex Evans, 22, of Cabot; and Hunter Gladden, 25, of Ward.

All are charged with conspiring to distribute heroin. Onezine and Cope are also charged with distributing heroin on Oct. 27, 2011, resulting in the death of J.M., and Onezine and Pennock are also charged with distributing heroin on March 23, resulting in D.H.’s death.

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 9 on 01/28/2013