Pubdate: Mon, 09 Apr 2001 Source: The Southeast Missourian (MO) Copyright: 2001 2001 Southeast Missourian Contact: http://www.semissourian.com/opinion/speakout/submit/ Website: http://www.semissourian.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1322 LIES OF ST LOUIS INFORMER FREE ANOTHER DRUG DEALER ST. LOUIS -- In January, a prosecutor told a federal judge in Los Angeles that Dave Daly was such a bad guy he should be imprisoned for life. After all, Daly already had five convictions for drug dealing and was awaiting trial on another drug charge. Now, the government has changed its tune. It reduced the drug charge to illegal use of a telephone and released Daly from prison. Why? Daly's attorney asked the government to produce a document the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says two federal agencies are trying hard not to make public: the report of an internal investigation by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. It details how the agency's most celebrated informer -- Andrew Chambers, formerly of suburban St. Louis -- lied in court over 15 years while sending hundreds of people to prison. The DEA report remains secret. Described only as 157 pages long, it is believed to document a cover-up by drug agents who watched as Chambers perjured himself by claiming over and over that he had never been arrested or convicted, the Post-Dispatch reported Sunday. The agents and senior DEA officials knew he was lying, the newspaper said. It claimed some of the agents had even helped him get out of trouble when he was arrested, and said the DEA waged a two-year court fight to keep Chambers' lies a secret. Since the DEA scandal broke last year, prosecutors across the country have dropped charges against at least 14 accused drug dealers rather than risk putting Chambers on the witness stand again. In the California case, Daly, 39, had to make some promises to the government to get out of jail, where he had been awaiting trial for more than three years. As part of the deal, he gave up his right to try to see the DEA investigation, withdrew a motion accusing prosecutors and drug agents of misconduct, and agreed there was no government misconduct. "That was the price of getting Daly out of jail," said one of his attorneys, John Martin. - --- MAP posted-by: Kirk Bauer