Trial starts for pair in drug case

Two men accused in 2018 of being part of a cocaine and marijuana trafficking organization went on trial Monday in the first federal criminal jury trial of 2021 in the Eastern District of Arkansas before U.S. District Judge James M. Moody Jr.

James “Richie Rich” Richards of Wrightsville and Isaac “Duck” May of Sweet Home were originally charged with conspiracy to distribute cocaine, crack cocaine, and marijuana in the 2018 indictment.

The second superseding indictment charged Richards, 52, with one count each of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and crack cocaine and cocaine distribution, and five counts of use of a telephone in furtherance of a drug crime.

May, 42, was charged with one count of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and crack cocaine and three counts of use of a phone in furtherance of a drug crime.

The two men were indicted along with nine other people, all of whom have entered guilty pleas and have been sentenced or are awaiting sentencing.

The reputed head of the drug trafficking organization, John Steven Garner, 53, of Hensley, pleaded guilty in September 2019 to conspiracy and to being a felon in possession of a firearm, and was sentenced the following July to 15 years in prison. Assistant U.S. Attorney Chris Givens — who is prosecuting the case along with Assistant U.S. Attorney Julie Peters — named Garner as a potential witness as he questioned the jury pool.

Last week, prosecutors filed a notice of intention to seek enhanced penalties against Richards because of his criminal history, which, if successful and he is convicted by the jury of the conspiracy count, could land him in prison for a minimum of 25 years.

During jury selection Monday morning, Moody advised the jury pool that the primary goal of the process — to empanel a jury capable of rendering a fair and impartial verdict based only on the evidence presented during the trial — could be summed up in in one overarching question.

“Would you be comfortable sitting in this room with your issue being litigated before someone of your frame of mind?” Moody asked. “That’s the real question. We’re just asking a lot of little questions to get there.”

Jury selection was completed shortly after 1 p.m., with opening arguments beginning at 2 p.m. Moody instructed the jury — composed of four women, eight men, and two alternates — on how the trial would proceed and he cautioned them about talking to anyone about the trial as it progresses, including talking among themselves about the case until the trial concludes and jury deliberations commence.

Richards, who has been free on bond while the case has moved through the court, appeared relaxed in court, dressed in a white suit and shoes, blue striped shirt and white bow tie, making occasional notes on a yellow legal pad in front of him at the defendant’s table. His attorney, Arkie Byrd, was seated next to him.

May, who has been incarcerated in the Pulaski County jail since his arrest in 2018, was brought into the courtroom by federal marshals in a wheelchair. His attorney, Theodis Thompson, sat next to him.

Peters described the two men as important players in the drug conspiracy because of their ability to move large quantities of cocaine for Garner.

“In 2017 and 2018, these two men were some of the most successful salesmen in a cocaine distribution business run by a man named John Garner,” she said. “You’ll also hear him called Unc.”

Peters said court-authorized wiretaps on Garner and Richards’ cellphones yielded numerous recorded conversations between Garner and Richards and numerous people involved in the conspiracy, including May.

“For members of the jury, it will be like you were there in real time, listening in on the calls,” she said.

Peters said she and Givens would bring in drug trafficking experts as witnesses to explain the coded language contained in many of the phone calls, along with law enforcement agents from various agencies who were part of the investigation, and a number of co-defendants who have been sentenced or entered guilty pleas, as well.

Byrd, stressing the government’s burden of proof, questioned the reliability of the coming testimony of the men’s co-defendants as she addressed the jury.

“The government has told you that some of the witnesses who will be brought before you to testify are not the most upstanding citizens themselves,” Byrd said. “They have reason to be here and almost all of them are trying to trade up to get a better deal… In the process they are here to throw my client under the bus.”

“Today you will hear the government tell you a story they hope you will believe,” Thompson said in in his opening remarks. “Please do not accept this story as facts. I’m about to give you the facts.”

Thompson denied all of the charges against his client, telling the jury that the government’s case depended mostly on the word of Garner, intimating that his testimony should be viewed with skepticism.

“He’s willing to say anything to you to get a reduction in his sentence,” Thompson said, drawing an objection from Peters, which Moody sustained.

“Don’t argue your case,” Moody said. “Just tell the jury what you anticipate the evidence will show.”

The first prosecution witnesses, an undercover Arkansas State Police investigator and an FBI agent with the Get Rock Task Force, outlined three drug purchases totaling a kilogram, or more than 2 pounds, of cocaine for the jury and explained how the wiretaps authorized by the court worked and what conversations were captured on the recordings. Jurors were walked through some of the nuts and bolts of the investigation in anticipation of testimony beginning today from some of the co-defendants in the case.