GREENEVILLE - Fear not, Cocke County law enforcement officers.The government is not trying to set you up, a federal prosecutor said Monday.
Fending off claims of sleazy government tricks and pressed to reveal whether federal agents were somehow engineering traffic stops to catch Cocke County law enforcers shaking down motorists, Assistant U.S. Attorney Neil Smith fired back with a little sarcasm.
"I think there's a salutary effect in officers down there acting appropriately for a change," Smith said. "That's great. (But) there has been no attempt to set up officers in stops."
Smith's comments about paranoia among Cocke County law enforcement now that more than a half-dozen officers have been charged as part of a broader corruption probe came at a hearing for Newport Police Department Sgts. James "Jimmy" Wendell Roach, 29, and Patrick James Sheldon, 33.
Both face trial Jan. 31 on federal civil-rights conspiracy charges they allegedly stole cash from two Hispanic men during a traffic stop in March.
At Monday's hearing, attorney David B. Hill, who represents Sheldon, asked U.S. District Court Judge Ronnie Greer to order Smith to reveal whether federal authorities had tried to "set up" Sheldon and Roach.
"How in the world is that relevant?" Greer asked.
Assistant Federal Defender Tim Moore, who represents Roach, argued that there have been "a lot of (secret) tape recordings and officers going around in Cocke County" who may be working for the government. It's natural, he said, for the two charged officers to wonder if they have been targeted before.
Smith noted that the pair of law enforcers is accused in an alleged shakedown in which "there was no government involvement." Instead, Smith said, the two officers allegedly broke the law of their own accord.
"The defense, having interviewed (one alleged victim) on at least two occasions, (knows) there was no government involvement in that," Smith said.
The request for evidence of government "set-ups" in the corruption probe was part of a larger push by the defense team, which also includes Assistant Federal Defender Nikki Pierce, to try to get a closer glimpse at Smith's case as the officers head to trial.
Pierce complained that the defense team cannot find one of the alleged victims and believes the other alleged victim is an "illegal, undocumented" immigrant who has used fake names before.
"All we're trying to do is represent these officers to the fullest," she said. "We can't do that if we don't know who they are."
Smith conceded that one of the alleged victims admitting using someone else's identification to get a job. The second alleged victim apparently is in Mexico, and the government is working to get him back to the United States for trial, Smith said.
The defense team also asked Greer to overturn a decision by Magistrate Judge Dennis H. Inman, who ruled defense claims of dirty tricks by the government to find out the attorneys' trial strategy was bogus.
Greer said he would issue a written ruling later on the various defense requests but signaled dropping the charges, as the attorneys had asked, was not on his to-do list.
"I'll get you a ruling very quickly on these issues, and we'll start picking a jury on the 31st," the judge said.
Jamie Satterfield may be reached at 865-342-6308.
