« Law - Trusts for pets, and other pet law information | Main | Ind. Courts - "Fort Wayne man convicted of molesting leaps off courthouse balcony" »
Friday, November 09, 2007
Ind. Courts - More on "Jurors will be selected today in the case of an Evansville attorney accused of having a meth lab in his home and law office"
Updating this ILB entry from Wednesday, Kate Braser of the Evansville Courier & Press has a long story today headed "Jury may get Happe case today:Meth charges, but no meth lab, says defense." Some quotes:
In court documents, prosecutors allege Happe made an agreement with a confidential informant to manufacture meth and procured the necessary ingredients."This is a case about how the police exploited Brad Happe's addiction to meth, to turn him from a user to a cook and prosecuted him for it," defense attorney John Brinson said.
Brinson conceded Happe was a meth addict, and said before Happe's arrest and suspension from practice, he even represented meth users in their criminal cases.
"He wasn't proud, he was addicted," Brinson said.
But Brinson said Happe did not know how to make meth, and said investigators provided the ingredients and the cook in order to arrest Happe. Brinson said when Happe was arrested, there "wasn't a particle of meth on him, or in his car."
"There was no meth lab, ladies and gentleman," Brinson said. "There wasn't. There was a blender with some ground up, over-the-counter cold medication, and that's their meth lab."
Vanderburgh County Deputy Prosecutor Matt Keppler told jurors that Happe "had the means, the motive and the opportunity," to make meth.
"And he planned to cook it with a police informant, Jim Mattingly," Keppler said, explaining Mattingly secretly wore a recording and transmitting device when he met with Happe.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on November 9, 2007 09:10 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts