Marianna man's trial in drug case kicks off

Prosecutor calls him a major dealer

For not having a legitimate job, Demetrius Colbert did very well for himself financially, a federal prosecutor told jurors Monday in opening statements of the Marianna man's trial on allegations that he distributed hundreds of pounds of cocaine in Lee and Phillips counties in 2010 and 2011.

At the time of his arrest in October 2011, when he was 36, Colbert owned six expensive cars, including a BMW, a Mercedes Benz and a Corvette convertible; more than $30,000 worth of diamond and gold jewelry; two houses, one of which was being extensively remodeled; and had $423,000 in cash stashed in his garage, a water heater and a car trunk, Assistant U.S. Attorney Julie Peters said.

She told the five women and seven men on the jury that over a two- to three-week period, they will hear excerpts of many recorded telephone calls that Colbert made and received in the summer of 2011, unaware that the FBI had wiretaps on his phone and those of two of his "best customers."

The calls, she said, will reveal Colbert's role as a major drug dealer in the area after his uncle put him in touch with Mexican suppliers who regularly delivered quantities of more than 25 pounds straight from Mexico to Marianna.

Peters told jurors they would see that Colbert bought large quantities from his Mexican suppliers, passing them on at a profit to his drug-dealing associates in other Arkansas Delta towns.

Defense attorney Mark Hampton scoffed at the FBI-led investigation that ensnared Colbert, saying that despite the federal agency's sophisticated abilities to watch, track and record suspects, jurors won't see any video surveillance of Colbert engaged in illegal activities, or any testimony from undercover cops or confidential informants, and won't hear any conversations in which the word "cocaine" is used, even though the talkers didn't know they were being wiretapped.

He questioned the credibility of witnesses who are expected to testify for the government that they bought and sold drugs with Colbert, saying, "They want to get their jail time cut, folks -- up to 50 percent."

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"Yes, my client had money, cars and jewelry, but he's not charged with tax evasion," Hampton said. "This is America. I don't know how he got it, but it's not my place to show how he got it. Owning a lot of property is not a crime in America."

In addition to being charged with conspiring to distribute large amounts of cocaine, Colbert is charged with two counts of using a telephone to facilitate the conspiracy, being a felon in possession of a firearm, discharging a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking and assault on a federal officer with a deadly weapon.

Peters said that on the morning of Oct. 11, 2011, when more than 700 law enforcement officers fanned out in the two counties and other nearby areas to arrest some of the 71 people who had been indicted a week earlier on drug and corruption charges, Colbert answered the FBI's knock at his door with gunfire from a .40-caliber Glock handgun.

She said Colbert then "frantically flushed kilogram after kilogram of cocaine down the toilet, leaving his girlfriend and children to deal with the police."

Hampton cast the 4 a.m. raid in a different light, saying Colbert was asleep in his Marianna home with his wife, Catina Davis, while their two young children were asleep in a front bedroom. He said teams of FBI and DEA agents in "commando gear" suddenly pounded on the door, yelling, in an effort to "create fear, anxiety and terror" in the people inside.

Although Colbert had previously been convicted of a crime and wasn't allowed to own a firearm, Hampton said, "he had a weapon because he and his wife were burglarized at another home, and he wanted to protect his wife and children."

Hampton said that in a panic, Colbert grabbed the gun and fired a shot at the door that was being breached with a battering ram, not knowing who was on the other side. He said someone returned gunfire, which went "straight over the children's heads in their beds."

"None of us could have been aware that was actually the FBI at the front door," Hampton said, adding that the realization that the intruders were law enforcement officers only occurred after some time had passed.

Jurors heard testimony on Monday from James Woodie, who was the FBI's case agent in Colbert's case -- one of seven related cases under the umbrella of "Operation Delta Blues." Woodie explained how the wiretaps worked, noting that during a 60-day period between April 13, 2011, and June 11, 2011, the FBI intercepted 7,772 calls to and from Colbert's cellphone. Of those, he said only about 710 calls were considered "pertinent" to the drug investigation and were listened to in their entirety.

Jurors also heard from Colbert's uncle, Alvin Long of Marianna, who is serving time in federal prison after pleading guilty as a lower level player in the Delta Blues investigation.

Long said he had been a welder working 50 to 60 hours a week for 25 years, and making about $50,000 a year, until he met a man while he was working who offered to supply him with 2 kilograms, or almost 5 pounds, of cocaine if he would distribute it. Long said he made $1,000 profit off the sale of 2 kilos to Torrence Turner, an acquaintance who has also pleaded guilty in the case. He said the man who had supplied him with the cocaine, who he knew only as "Omar," soon connected him with two other Hispanic men whose names he didn't know, who began making regular trips to Arkansas from Mexico to deliver 12 kilos of cocaine at a time for him and Colbert to sell.

Long testified that his nephew first bought 6 kilos for between $28,500 and $29,500 a kilo, using cash. About a week later, Long said, he and Colbert bought 6 more kilos from the Hispanic men.

After the suppliers had made about 16 trips to Arkansas, Long said he had personally made "close to $100,000," while Colbert redistributed the cocaine at a higher price and made even more money.

When arrested, Long said, he at first didn't want to talk to FBI agents "because I was ashamed of what I had become."

A section on 06/03/2014

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