A Pine Bluff man who is one of three twice-indicted defendants in a far-flung investigation into gang violence and drug trafficking was ordered to remain in jail to await trial and could soon be joined by his girlfriend after a federal magistrate judge determined during her testimony that the woman was lying under oath.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Joe Volpe ordered Deandre "Gamble" Gates, 27, to remain in jail following testimony by his girlfriend, Deshawnna Bates, whom the judge said was "wholly unreliable" as a witness after her testimony. Bates, testifying about the arrest that led to Gates' indictment, gave conflicting accounts about nearly $15,000 in cash that was found in a hidden compartment in Gates' vehicle, admitting first that $7,000 was hers and she was unaware of any other money found, but later testifying that the almost $15,000 was "moving money."
"The money was saved for furniture, rent, deposit, all of that for a different location," she told Volpe.
"Why would you leave it in the car where it could very easily be stolen or somebody could break in?" Volpe asked. "That doesn't seem like a safe place at all to leave $15,000 in cash."
"I had just got out of the car, like, two or three hours prior," Bates answered, saying the money had been in her purse. "I was going to a different residence and I didn't want to take a chance on anything getting stolen."
"It was $15,000, is that right?" Volpe asked.
"That's correct," Bates replied.
"What you told the prosecutor was you didn't know about the $7,000 in the center console," Volpe said. "You said you only knew about the $7,000 and change that was in the hidden compartment."
"Well, it was my car," Bates answered, uncertainly.
"But you previously testified it was $15,000 broken into two bundles," Volpe said. "You said 'I knew about this one in the hidden compartment but I didn't know about this one in the console.'"
"That's correct," Bates answered. "I didn't know about the one in the center console but I did know about the one in the compartment."
"But I just told you it was $15,000 total -- " Volpe began.
"I know it was total," Bates interrupted, not realizing the point Volpe was making, "but just the seven was mine, the rounded up seven."
"You do know you could be prosecuted for perjury for telling lies in this courtroom," Volpe said.
"I do," Bates said.
"I suspect you might get a visit from the marshal with a summons showing you've been charged with perjury," the judge said.
"Why would I be charged with perjury?" Bates asked.
"Because nothing about your testimony seems truthful," Volpe answered.
Earlier, Volpe had chided Gates' attorney, Eric Buchanan of Little Rock, for asking leading questions of Bates when quizzing her about Gates' arrests.
"She doesn't know anything about anything except what you're telling her," Volpe told Buchanan.
Gates, an aspiring rapper, was with Ke'shone Smith, accused of killing Pine Bluff Detective Kevin Collins on Oct. 5, 2020, and considered to be a ranking member of the EBK -- Every Body Killas -- street gang as well as an associate of the Lodi Murder Mobb street gang. He was charged in two indictments, one concentrated on the EBK members and associates, and the other on the Lodi Murder Mobb members and associates. Smith is scheduled to go on trial next year in Jefferson County Circuit Court on a charge of capital murder. Gates was not charged in that incident.
Gates later made a rap video in which he appears in a setting similar to the motel parking lot where Collins was killed, surrounded by evidence tags and crime scene tape and displaying large amounts of cash and an assortment of pistols and rifles.
Gates was charged in both indictments with conspiracy to distribute marijuana and use of a communications facility in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. He was additionally charged in the EBK indictment with possession with intent to distribute marijuana and with possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. He is currently scheduled to go to trial on Jan. 3 before U.S. District Judge Brian Miller and U.S. District Judge Kristine G. Baker.
Earlier Wednesday, Amy Slaughter, 47, of Willits, Calif., was arraigned on charges of conspiracy to distribute marijuana and use of a communications facility in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, and was given a trial date of Jan. 3 before Baker. Volpe appointed Latrece Gray of the federal public defenders office in Little Rock to represent Slaughter, who was one of 26 people charged in the Lodi Murder Mobb indictment.