Pubdate: Fri, 17 Nov 2000
Source: Lubbock Avalanche-Journal (TX)
Copyright: 2000 The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
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Author: Dirk Fillpot

EX-ABERNATHYOFFICER GUILTY OF POT POSSESSION

Former Abernathy police officer Benjamin Buono was found guilty Thursday of 
a misdemeanor charge of possessing marijuana stemming from a traffic stop 
on Feb. 23.

Buono, 27, still faces a misdemeanor driving while intoxicated charge from 
the same incident. The drugs were found in the car, which was not Buono's, 
during an inventory search after he was arrested for DWI.

The three-man, three-woman Lubbock County jury deliberated about an hour 
before reaching a verdict.

The jury will determine Buono's sentence today. He faces up to six months 
in the Lubbock County Jail and/or a $2,000 fine.

During the sentencing phase of the trial, prosecutors presented witnesses 
discussing previous allegations against Buono while he was a Slaton police 
officer.

One witness said Buono was intoxicated and pulled a gun on him in a 
convenience store parking lot on Sept. 17, 1998.

''He grabbed my arm and pulled out his pistol. When he pulled the pistol, I 
told him I was going to call the law,'' Glen Robinson, a store customer, 
testified. ''He was drunk, carrying a gun and carrying a badge.''

Jonathan Camp, who went with Robinson to the Lubbock convenience store that 
night, said he was nervous, but not scared of Buono.

Camp said Buono threatened to arrest him if he attempted to leave. Asked if 
he was scared of Buono, Camp replied, ''I thought maybe it was the alcohol 
talking.''

Inside the store, Buono was upset that the store required him to place his 
fingerprint on a check, Mary Hamilton, the store clerk that night, 
testified Thursday.

''He said he is an officer and he shouldn't have to put his fingerprint on 
the check,'' she told the jury.

A Lubbock police investigation into the incident did not result in criminal 
charges against Buono.

Buono was pulled over by a Lubbock-Cooper school district police officer 
who reported seeing him driving the wrong direction on a one-way street the 
night of Feb. 23.

He was initially charged with driving while intoxicated after failing field 
sobriety tests. A trial date for the DWI charge has not been set.
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