Brownwood Drugs gone AWOL ? Raise your hands if you think this is the first time !

Wednesday February 7, 2007

News

Missing drug evidence brings trial to early end

By Steve Nash — Brownwood Bulletin

District Judge Steve Ellis ended a drug trial Tuesday because key evidence — methamphetamine allegedly seized from the defendant — could not be found in the Brownwood Police Department’s evidence room.

Former Brownwood police officer Britt Brownlee, who faces sentencing Friday in a federal drug case, was the custodian of evidence when defendant Harvill Blackshere was arrested in May 2004, narcotics officer Bruce Spruill told Ellis in a hearing outside the jury’s presence.

Prosecutors learned Friday as they were preparing for trial that police could not find the evidence, and immediately notified defense attorney Nathan Butler, Assistant District Attorney Perry Sims said.

Ellis did not dismiss the case outright against Blackshere, who was accused of possessing less than a gram of methamphetamine. Neither did Ellis declare a mistrial.

Ellis did, however, grant a defense motion to exclude the drug evidence. Butler argued the state had violated Blackshere’s rights under the Texas constitution “in that the state has ‘misplaced’ the alleged controlled substance.”

The state can appeal Ellis’ ruling to the 11th Court of Appeals in Eastland.

Brownwood Police Chief Virgil Cowin said he won’t comment until he has reviewed the matter with other police officials.

The indictment against Blackshere alleged he had previous felony convictions of burglary and retaliation.

Ellis said the district attorney’s office, as well as current or former police officers who were witnesses in the case, were not at fault.

Spruill told Ellis he knew of no evidence that would show Brownlee had anything to do with the methamphetamine missing.

“We’re pleased with the result,” Butler said after Ellis ended the trial. “We feel justice has been served in this case. Obviously (Blackshere) is relieved to have this behind him.

“We had unexplained missing evidence. Obviously we would have grave concerns about missing evidence from any police evidence locker. That is certainly unacceptable.”

Sims said, “We will be reviewing the ruling and the case law. Obviously we disagree with the court’s assessment. ... I believe the law would’ve allowed us to proceed despite the missing evidence.”

“Law enforcement agencies here in Brown County do a good job of investigating crimes as well as maintaining evidence,” Sims said. “Clearly the law allows, in certain circumstances, prosecution to proceed if evidence has been lost or displaced or destroyed” if it has not happened “in bad faith.”

Sims said police had sent the methamphetamine to a Department of Public Safety crime lab for testing, and the crime lab sent it back to the police department in August 2004.

He said prosecutors had asked officers to retrieve evidence and bring it to meeting between prosecutors and witnesses Friday. “They found it was missing,” Sims said. “At this point we do not know if it was simply misplaced or not.”

A jury was seated Monday, and testimony began Tuesday morning. The state had elicited testimony alleging that Blackshere was one of two people in a parked car and that methamphetamine found in the car belonged to him.

Butler then filed a motion asking Ellis to exclude testimony about the seized drugs, as well as lab reports, results or “other evidence pertaining to the alleged controlled substance in this matter.”

Ellis said the matter presented him with “the horns of a dilemma.” Ellis said on balance he could not admit the evidence and that “justice can’t be done” because of the circumstances.

http://www.brownwoodbulletin.com/articles/2007/02/07/news/news01
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UPDATE:
Thursday February 8, 2007

News

Investigators suspect evidence tampering

By Steve Nash — Brownwood Bulletin

Investigators believe former Brownwood police detective Britt Brownlee “tampered with” some evidence in the Brownwood Police Department’s evidence room, Brown County Sheriff’s Sgt. Tony Aaron said.

Aaron was part of an investigation involving the sheriff’s office and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency into Brownlee’s activities.

The initial investigation had nothing to do with Brownlee possibly taking evidence, Aaron said. After Brownlee was arrested in July 2006, evidence suggested that “some evidence was tampered with” by Brownlee, Aaron said.

He declined to elaborate.

District Judge Steve Ellis ended a drug trial Tuesday after it was revealed that a small amount of methamphetamine, alleged to have belonged to the defendant, could not be found in the police department’s evidence room.

Brownlee was the evidence custodian when the methamphetamine was sent back from a crime lab in August 2004 and placed in the evidence room, police have said.

Police Chief Virgil Cowin said the police department has changed its methods in maintaining the evidence room — partly because of the events involving Brownlee and partly because of a new computer system.

The department has changed the way it logs, marks and maintains evidence, resulting in tighter controls, Cowin said.

Cowin said police don’t know if Brownlee had anything to do with the methamphetamine in that case being missing. He said police officials want to learn more about Brownlee’s possible involvement with missing evidence.

source: http://www.brownwoodbulletin.com/articles/2007/02/08/news/news03.txt

Thursday February 8, 2007

News

A promise unfulfilled — Britt Brownlee awaits sentencing on Friday

By Steve Nash — Brownwood Bulletin

Britt Brownlee

Brownwood Police Chief Virgil Cowin recalled the fall day in September 2005 when a troubled young officer entered his office and said he was resigning.

“Britt, have you done anything wrong?” a surprised Cowin asked the man seated in front of him.

“No,” Britt Brownlee replied.

The 28-year-old officer started to cry.

Now, Brownlee is in federal custody on a methamphetamine distribution charge. Brownlee, now 29, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Lubbock and will be sentenced Friday.

Investigators have revealed few specifics about the case against Brownlee.

“I never saw this coming,” said Sgt. Dennis Weathermon, Brownlee’s supervisor and head of the criminal investigation division, where Brownlee had worked as a detective since April 2003.

“It just makes you want to feel sick.”

“It wasn’t pleasant for our department,” Cowin said. “If a cop’s dirty ... I like Britt. I don’t like what he did. I don’t dislike Britt, but it hurts the trust people have for us.”

Brownlee’s once-promising career with the Brownwood Police Department had lasted not quite five years. He became a police officer in October 2000 and resigned Sept. 28, 2005.

The resignation was voluntary, but Brownlee had lost favor with his superiors about six months earlier. In fact, Brownlee was on the road to being terminated, Assistant Police Chief Garry Page said. Brownlee had developed personal problems, and he became withdrawn, shutting himself up in his office. “He wasn’t that good of an employee anymore,” Weathermon said.

———

“Please be kind to our family,” Brownlee’s mother, Glenna, sobbed in a phone interview. “This is so hard.”

She said she doesn’t know if her son was involved in drugs or what caused his problems. “It hurts the family very deeply,” Glenna Brownlee said.

Before her son’s troubles began, she said, his name and picture had been in the newspaper numerous times for something good.

Now, she said, his troubles have been played out in the newspapers and on television.

“I don’t think one bad thing should tear down all the good things in his life,” she said. “He’s always been a good son. We’re going to miss him.”

“ ... This is like having a death in the family. We’ve never been through anything like this. He’s always been a perfect son.”

She said Britt had spent his adult life helping care for his disabled father, Bennie.

Glenna Brownlee said she doesn’t know what kind of sentence her son will receive Friday.

———

In May 2001, Brownlee wore the crisp blue uniform of a Brownwood patrol officer when he was featured in a Bulletin article.

Handsome, husky and square-jawed, he sported a reddish-brown flattop. By all accounts he was personable, outgoing and affable, immensely polite and possessing something of an “aw, shucks” demeanor.

A 1996 graduate of Brownwood High School, Brownlee said then that he’d planned to go to college or work in real estate, but he got hooked on law enforcement after riding with a sheriff’s deputy.

He became a reserve officer with the Brownwood department in April 1999, then became a full-time officer in October 2000.

In April 2003, Brownlee applied for a vacancy in CID and was selected for the slot. “It was an awesome feeling,” Brownlee told the Bulletin.

He said then he wanted to become a police officer because of a desire to help people, and he figured working in law enforcement would allow him to do that.

“I’m living my dream. It’s what I love to do,” Brownlee said.

As a CID detective, he traded his uniform for street clothes, his patrol car for an office. “I think I’ll miss putting on the blue uniform and jumping in the patrol car,” Brownlee said.

Weathermon said Brownlee started off well in his new assignment. “He was good. He was aggressive,” Weathermon said.

“He appeared to love his job,” Cowin said.

———

About six months before Brownlee resigned, his superiors began to notice that some things weren’t right. They knew he had personal problems that apparently stemmed from a relationship he was involved in outside the police department.

“We all counseled him about it. We told him it could blow up in his face,” Page said. He declined to elaborate.

The quality of his work deteriorated, Page, Cowin and Weathermon said. He didn’t follow up on investigations, didn’t complete assigned tasks.

“We had detected some irregularity in reports that led us to believe he was not tending to business,” Page said.

Weathermon informed Brownlee that he was being reassigned to patrol, and Brownlee went on vacation without ever resuming patrol duties.

While Brownlee was on vacation, Page learned that he had failed to execute some “legal documents” in a criminal case. “He had advised he had done it,” Page said.

That, Page said, “was the straw that broke the camel’s back.” He said Brownlee was going to be terminated.

But while Brownlee was still on vacation, he went to see Cowin and resigned.

———

Well before Brownlee turned in his badge, rumors were swirling that he was being investigated for illegal narcotics.

On July 30, 2006, Brownlee was arrested at his parents’ home on a federal drug warrant. He was charged with one count of conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute more than 500 grams of methamphetamine.

Brownlee was among two-dozen-plus people who were arrested in a roundup by federal, state and local officials of methamphetamine suspects.

The indictments against the suspects were issued as a result of a joint investigation by the Brown County Sheriff’s Office and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, Sheriff Bobby Grubbs then.

Brown County Sheriff’s Sgt. Tony Aaron said at the time that the arrests stemmed from an investigation that began in Brown County more than a year earlier. He would not reveal details of the case against Brownlee, saying only that he was alleged “to have been involved with a group of others in the distribution of methamphetamine.”

The indictment against Brownlee alleged that he was involved in illegal activity from 2003 to the time of the indictment.

Brownlee pleaded guilty on Nov. 16.

———

Brownlee has been incarcerated since his arrest. Glenna Brownlee said she’s not allowed to say where he’s being held.

“He’s a very religious young man, and he’s depending on his faith to help him get through this, like we all are,” Glenna Brownlee said.

The family has some good news on which to focus — her 22-year-old granddaughter, Kim, a member of the San Antonio Spurs’ Silver Dancers, has been selected to the NBA All-Star Dance Team in Las Vegas, Nev.

Glenna Brownlee said she wants to thank people who have prayed for the Brownlee family. “I think we’ve been on every prayer list of every church in Brownwood,” she said. She also said she wants to thank the police department for the way it treated the family and Brownlee when he was arrested. “Special thanks to (Police Cpl.) Troy Carroll for his courteous professionalism,” she said.

Police officials, meanwhile, said they’re working to regain the public’s trust in the aftermath of Brownlee’s arrest.

Detective Larry Owings, who replaced Brownlee in CID, said Brownlee’s actions hurt law enforcement but, he said those actions don’t represent the police department.

Ironically, Brownlee had gotten his job in CID after Owings resigned from the police department, creating a CID vacancy. Owings came back to work as a patrol officer a few months later, and rejoined CID after Brownlee left.

Cowin said he can forgive Brownlee personally, “but not for what he did to the people he served and the department.”

source: http://www.brownwoodbulletin.com/articles/2007/02/08/news/news01.txt