A Marianna man accused of being one of four major drug traffickers in Lee and Phillips counties for years is scheduled to go on trial today in a Little Rock federal courtroom.
The trial of Demetrius Colbert, 38, is expected to last two or three weeks and will essentially wrap up the federal government's seven cases -- at least so far -- that fall under the umbrella of a multiagency drug trafficking and public corruption investigation known as Operation Delta Blues, because of its focus on counties in the Arkansas Delta region.
Out of 71 people named in seven simultaneous indictments handed up in October 2011, only two others still have cases pending. One, Milton "Bump" Johnson, 40, of Helena-West Helena, remains a fugitive, and the other, Mervyn Hamilton, 32, also of Helena-West Helena, is scheduled for trial in July, though court records indicate he is engaged in plea negotiations with prosecutors.
U.S. Attorney Chris Thyer has called the round of indictments only the "first phase" of an effort led by federal agencies to clean up drug dealing and corruption in pockets of the state.
Colbert, represented by Little Rock attorney Mark Hampton, faces six felony charges: conspiracy to possess more than 5 kilograms of cocaine with the intent to deliver, two counts of using a telephone to facilitate the conspiracy, being a felon in possession of a firearm, assault on a federal officer with a deadly weapon, and discharging a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking. If convicted, he faces extensive prison time.
Colbert's assault and firearm charges stem from the only injury reported during a pre-dawn raid on the morning of Oct. 11, 2011, by more than 700 law enforcement officers. The officers descended on several small Delta towns, primarily Helena-West Helena and Marianna, arresting 51 of the 71 indictees in one sweep. The indictments had been handed up by a federal grand jury a week earlier, on Oct. 4, 2011, but weren't unsealed until after the raids.
The injury occurred at Colbert's Marianna house, when federal agents pounded on the door about 4 a.m. and yelled, "FBI! Search Warrant! Open the door!" according to an agent's testimony. After getting no immediate response, an FBI agent who was among officers breaching the door with a battering ram was hit in the thigh by a bullet fired from inside the house, Agent James Woodie has testified. He said the agent recovered after undergoing emergency surgery.
Woodie has testified that Colbert and his common-law wife, Catina Davis, now 32, were inside the house with two small children at the time. Davis is serving a two-year prison sentence after pleading guilty in April 2012 to a money laundering charge, admitting that she helped disguise $12,000 in drug proceeds so Colbert could use the cash to make a down payment on a house in November 2010.
The defendants in the various indictments were grouped by drug-trafficking or public corruption schemes that authorities said were all interrelated. The main indictment, known as the Trice-Edwards indictment, included 39 defendants and was led by Sedrick "Binky" Trice, 29, of Helena-West Helena and Leon Edwards, 34, of Lexa, who were considered the leaders of a sprawling network through which hundreds of pounds of cocaine and marijuana were distributed throughout east Arkansas. Trice became the first person to plead guilty on Dec. 21, 2011, and is serving a 40-year sentence. Edwards, whose guilty plea followed in April of 2012, is serving 22 years.
Prosecutors have described the Colbert drug operation, the focus of a second indictment known as the eight-defendant Colbert indictment, as a smaller ring that worked with the Trice-Edwards operation to move drugs into both Helena-West Helena and Marianna. They say that Colbert, who used the nickname "D-Coop," regularly distributed hundreds of pounds of cocaine to dealers in Phillips and Lee counties.
A third ring based solely in Marianna was led by Torrence "Hot Shot" Turner, 39, of Marianna. The Turner indictment accused 13 defendants of distributing cocaine, crack and marijuana throughout Lee County. Turner is serving a 30-year sentence after he admitted to dealing more than 100 pounds of powder and crack cocaine during a nearly two-year span that began in 2010, and also admitted bribing his parole officer to allow him to continue selling drugs.
The Hughes indictment, led by Marcus Hughes, 37, of Helena-West Helena, named six people accused of networking to distribute drugs in the Delta.
The remaining three indictments accused five law enforcement officers of taking bribes to protect the drug dealers. Four of the officers pleaded guilty and were sentenced to varying prison terms, while one was convicted by a federal jury of both extortion and bribery charges and is serving a 21/2-year sentence that was recently upheld by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis.
Among those who may be called to testify against Colbert as part of their plea negotiations are his wife, Davis; his sister, Antoinette Colbert, 32, of Lexa, who pleaded guilty in December to being part of a cocaine conspiracy involving her brother and is awaiting sentencing; Cedric "Fat Ced" Edwards, 33, who is serving a 16-year sentence for admitting his role in the conspiracy; Alvin Long, 49, who is serving nine years for conspiracy and has said he acted as a middleman to help Colbert obtain more than 110 pounds of cocaine from a Mexican supplier; and Marcus "Pig" Thompson, 39, of Marianna, who is serving 25 years after admitting he paid about $4,000 a week to buy cocaine from Colbert and then helped Colbert distribute it to others, including Trice, Edwards and Turner.
Woodie, the FBI agent, has previously testified that a gun found empty in Colbert's house after the shooting had been given to him by Leon Edwards, who got it from Trice after his girlfriend bought it at a pawn shop.
Jurors are expected to hear parts of conversations from Colbert's wiretapped phone in which prosecutors say drug dealers used coded language to place orders for cocaine. They say the participants used code words such as "chicken dinners" or "Biggie Small CDs" when ordering drugs.
U.S. District Judge James M. Moody Jr. has scheduled jury selection for the trial to begin today at 9 a.m.
A section on 06/02/2014