Pubdate: Wed, 25 Oct 2000
Source: Commercial Appeal (TN)
Copyright: 2000 The Commercial Appeal
Contact:  Box 334, Memphis, TN 38101
Fax: (901)529-6445
Website: http://www.gomemphis.com/
Author: Bartholomew Sullivan

TIMELINE LEADS TO DRUG CASE GOING ON

FBI Notes Sent Out After Indictments

OXFORD, Miss. - Confidential FBI interview notes from a plea-bargaining 
session with an accused Tunica drug dealer were sent "inadvertently" to a 
lawyer for the man's co-defendant, an assistant U.S. attorney testified 
Tuesday.

But the documents could not have been used to tailor witness testimony 
before a federal grand jury that indicted Mack Arthur Bowens and Willie 
Hampton on May 25, Asst. U.S. Atty. William C. 'Chad' Lamar said. That's 
because the notes were still in government custody until at least June 1, 
when they were sent to Bowens's lawyer to aid in his defense.

Using that chronology, U.S. Dist. Judge W. Allen Pepper Jr. denied Bowens's 
and Hampton's motions to dismiss their cases after hearing testimony over 
two days.

Bowens had alleged that the typed FBI notes taken during an off-the-record 
plea-bargaining session on April 19 were circulated in the Lafayette County 
Detention Center for use by "want-to-be witnesses" against him.

Bowens's first drug indictment resulted in his acquittal last year after an 
FBI agent acknowledged forging signatures on witness statements. Agent Alan 
Tatum has pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing.

A convicted rapist-kidnapper called by Bowens's lawyer Tuesday said it was 
commonplace for inmates at the jail to read about cases, then offer to be 
government "snitches" in exchange for reduced prison time, even though they 
had no real knowledge of the cases. In jail parlance the practice is called 
"getting on their cases," inmate James William Smith said. Smith also 
testified he'd seen the FBI document summarizing Bowens's confidential 
admissions and that it was hotly discussed in his jail pod.

During two days of testimony, no explanation for how the documents got into 
the jail was offered, and the government's formal, written answer to 
Bowens's motion to dismiss was filed Tuesday under seal.

Five inmates who were in the Lafayette County lockup and testified before 
the grand jury against Bowens and Hampton all testified they had never seen 
the FBI agent's notes and had not been coached before their May appearance 
before the panel.

When Lamar was called to the witness stand, he testified that he sent 
discovery material to Bowens's lawyer, Whitman D. Mounger of Greenwood, on 
June 1. On June 29, Lamar said he inadvertently sent the same documents 
involving Bowens to Gail P. Thompson of Oxford, Hampton's lawyer at the time.

Thompson was later disqualified from representing Hampton because of a 
conflict of interest representing Melvin Shipp, an inmate who testified 
against Hampton at the grand jury, who is seeking a reduced sentence for 
his cooperation.

Thompson did not return The Commercial Appeal's phone call left with an 
answering service Tuesday.
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