posted May 22, 2008
The man federal authorities list as the main supplier in a $1.2 million Chattanooga cocaine ring remains behind bars awaiting trial.
Demarcus Akins, 32, who authorities say was supplying large quantities of crack cocaine to dealers in Chattanooga from a base in Atlanta, waived his detention hearing.
Bruce Harvey, a leading Atlanta defense attorney, appeared with Akins before Magistrate Judge Susan Kerr Lee on Thursday morning. Chattanooga attorney Arvin Reingold is assisting on the case.
Prosecutors have begun turning over to defense attorneys reams of information obtained from the probe late last year and early this year. There were 42 arrests in the case, including Councilman John "Duke" Franklin. He is not charged with dealing in drugs, but with money laundering and helping to prepare alleged false loan papers for a man identified as one of the main drug underlings - 44-year-old Michael Kelley.
Another identified leader, 24-year-old Marcus Lewis, was denied bond by Magistrate Judge Lee.
His attorney said no drugs were found when he was arrested and he does not have a felony on his record.
However, prosecutor Scott Winnie said
officers arresting Lewis at his house found a loaded gun on his nightstand next to the bed where he was sleeping.
He cited one tape recording in which he said Akins told Lewis on Dec. 30 he would provide him with "a two-piece." The prosecutor said that referred to two kilograms of crack cocaine. He said Lewis sent Lakisha Cross to Atlanta to get the drugs, and she was stopped on the way back at Resaca, Ga., with two kilograms of crack.
Prosecutor Winnie said $14,000 in cash was found with Lewis. He said another $23,000 in cash was located at an Akins "stash house" in Chattanooga, where Shanna Bridgeman lived.
Bill Killian, attorney for Edward Byrdsong, asked for more time to prepare for the detention hearing, saying he had gone through "two or three print cartridges" just on the affidavits in the case. He said he had been given a stack of documents four inches high.
Prosecutors early next week are to turn over voluminous transcripts of the tape recordings. Several ring leaders were wiretapped during the probe, it was stated.
Several hearings, including that of Byrdsong, were delayed until May 30.
Kenneth Edmond was allowed detention after a positive recommended from Pretrial Services, though prosecutor Winnie said, "This man has a history of violence." He said it will be up to Pretrial Services "to deal with him."
Edmond was directed to have no contact with co-defendants, including his brother, Jerry Daniel.
Magistrate Judge Lee noted that one defendant who had been allowed bond by Magistrate Judge William Bilbo Mitchell Carter had already lost his freedom. "It took one weekend," she said.
Prosecutor Winnie said Daniel had a pistol with him when he was arrested. He said he was involved in about a kilogram of cocaine sales.
He said Jonah Franklin was recorded 126 times in conversations about drug dealings.
The prosecutor said there are 59 calls involving Byrdsong. He said he was identified selling about two kilograms of crack during the probe. He said when Byrdsong was arrested, he was found with $3,600 in cash and three cell phones. He also had ammunition, three bags of marijuana and three bags of crack.
An attorney for Jerry Daniel said a gun found when he was arrested at his mother's house had been bought for protection after the home was burglarized.
Attorney Steve Goldstein said defendant Mark Young had been praised for helping coach his son's ball teams.
He said Young "has not been able to pay child support on the number of children he has. He's tried."
Trials in the case are set as early as July.
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