By MATT MILNER Courier staff writer
August 29, 2008 11:07 am
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DES MOINES — One of the defendants in what authorities described as a major Ottumwa drug ring has reached a plea deal with prosecutors.
Derek O’Neal is scheduled for a change of plea hearing on Sept. 8. If the deal goes through he will become the first of the 10 defendants to plead guilty to any charges stemming from the police raids on July 19.
Federal court records do not contain any information about what the deal involves. Plea bargains typically include reduced charges and may involve testimony against the other defendants.
The online records list all filings in the case under a single heading. The note on the change of plea hearing does not indicate which of the defendants is involved. But the system allows individual searches, and the hearing turns up as the next courtroom event for O’Neal.
O’Neal has been one of the more active defendants since being ordered into custody at his detention hearing. He filed an appeal of that order; the appeal was rejected Aug. 25.
If O’Neal testifies for the prosecution, he could be a major addition. Prosecutors allege he was one of the ring’s cocaine dealers. They also say he carried firearms at various times and struck one of his co-defendants in the head with a hammer.
O’Neal is also accused of threatening an informant. He allegedly told the informant he would kill him if he was found to be cooperating with law enforcement.
Mike Bladel, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s office in Des Moines, said the details of the plea will become public once the hearing is held.
O’Neal is not the only defendant to create new developments in the case. William Edwards III, the alleged leader of an Ottumwa cocaine ring, is appealing a judge’s order that keeps him in jail until his trial.
Edwards had his detention hearing Aug. 20. U.S. Magistrate Judge Ross Walters presided and then ordered Edwards to remain in federal custody. Walters expressed concerns about the potential for obstruction of justice if Edwards were to be released.
Alfredo Parrish, Edwards’ attorney, took issue with that finding in the appeal. He said the prosecution agreed that there is little risk Edwards will flee prosecution, and pointed to Edwards’ recently concluded two years on probation. During that time Edwards complied with all requirements with the exception of a citation for failing to cut his grass.
Walters agreed during the hearing that Edwards had complied with the terms of his probation, but said the fact that the current accusations against him involve activities during that time caused him concern.
A release from federal custody will not necessarily return Edwards to his Eldon home. Parrish proposed using electronic monitoring and a curfew to restrict Edwards to Ft. Des Moines. He also proposed drug testing and daily calls to pretrial services as he awaits trial.
Parrish attacked the accusations that Edwards threatened an informant as hearsay.
“The evidence presented by the government regarding Edwards’s alleged threats to the [informant] and entering his house is simply hearsay with out any factors that support its reliability. Hearsay is permitted at detention hearings, but in this case there is no evidence or circumstances that make the hearsay reliable to the point where the Magistrate Judge could rely on it to detain Edwards,” Parrish wrote.
He also criticized concerns about witness tampering, saying that the evidence is not substantial and that law enforcement removed the informant from the area.
And one of the two defendants released by the courts will have a different attorney at trial. Patrick Payton, Rafael DeLazaro’s attorney, submitted an application to withdraw on Wednesday.
Payton told the court a lack of cooperation should allow his withdrawal. He cited disagreements “with the handling and strategy in the pursuit of this case,” and irreconcilable differences.
DeLazaro waived his detention hearing and prosecutors did not object to his pre-trial release.
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