TAMPERING VOIDS DRUG CONVICTION

Federal Prosecutor Denies He Planted Evidence In Tacoma Case

Saying a federal prosecutor tampered with evidence, a U.S. appeals court
has overturned a Tacoma man's conviction for possession of more than 15
pounds of cocaine.

"The fact that the prosecutor tampered with a crucial piece of evidence in
this case undermines the integrity of the verdict," states the opinion,
issued Thursday by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

The appellate judges also raise the question of whether assistant U.S.
attorney Bruce Miyake or Tacoma police planted the key evidence - a bail
receipt in a black bag - used to convict Troy Anthony Edwards of possession
with intent to sell the drug.

The court noted police and prosecutors had the damning evidence for two
years before "discovering" it during the 1997 trial.

"I didn't plant it," Miyake said Friday. "Absolutely not."

Miyake said he likewise is confident that police did not plant the
evidence. A Tacoma police spokesman said Friday he did not know of the case
and could not comment.

The prosecutor said even Edwards' attorneys won't say he planted evidence.

"If you ask around, you'll find I have a very good reputation," Miyake
said. "Now my name has been sullied."

Asked whether he believed evidence was planted, defense attorney Peter
Avenia demurred.

"It's hard to say what's going on," he said. "We made our objections based
on what we thought the admissible evidence should have been."

This is the second major case in Pierce County to be overturned in recent
months on grounds of prosecutorial misconduct.

Earlier this year, a federal judge tossed out the murder conviction of Gary
Benn, saying Pierce County prosecutors hid evidence about a key witness.

The Edwards case has taken several strange twists since he was arrested in
1995.

Edwards originally pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to
possession of cocaine with the intent to sell and was sentenced to 20 years
in prison. But he asked to withdraw his guilty plea, and in 1997, the 9th
Circuit Court of Appeals agreed and sent the case back for trial.

Miyake won a conviction in the 1997 trial, but the appeals court overturned
it the next year. The judges said Miyake should not have continued to
prosecute the case after he found the bail receipt in the black bag, in
effect becoming a witness to evidence.

With a new prosecutor, Edwards again was convicted in 1999. Thursday, the
appeals court tossed out that finding.

"This case has been very bizarre from the first step out of the blocks,"
defense attorney Avenia said Friday. As for whether there will be a third
trial, Avenia isn't sure.

"We'll just have to wait and see," he said.

At issue is a black nylon bag found in the trunk of Edwards' BMW after his
arrest on a domestic violence charge in 1995.

Inside the bag, Tacoma police found baggies of what appeared to be crack
cocaine and about 15 pounds of powder cocaine, according to the appeals
court opinion.

In the front seat, they found a folder of Edwards' legal papers, which they
did not inventory.

Police found no fingerprints or other physical evidence to link Edwards to
the bag. His ex-girlfriend, who had told police he was carrying a dark bag,
refused to testify during his first trial.

According to the opinion, after the first day of the trial, Miyake violated
court rules by taking the bag, which had been admitted into evidence along
with the cocaine, out of the courtroom and into his office.

There, with two Tacoma police officers watching, Miyake took the bag apart.
One of the officers was Bill Lowry, who was shot and killed in the line of
duty later that year. Miyake said he does not remember the name of the
second officer.

He told the court he found a bail receipt with Edwards' name on it under
the cardboard stiffener at the bottom of the bag, establishing a link
between Edwards and the evidence.

"It was a mistake to have taken the bag out of the courtroom," Miyake
acknowledges now.

He said he removed it because it had been admitted into evidence along with
the cocaine and he could not leave the cocaine in the courtroom.

Miyake said he isn't sure why he disassembled the bag.

"It might have just been curiosity," he said.

Miyake said the bail receipt was not discovered during the two years before
the trial because the bag it was in had been sealed by the state crime lab
after the cocaine it held was analyzed.

When he found the receipt, he knew he had a problem.

The receipt was the evidence he needed to tie Edwards to the bag. But
because he found it, he would become a witness and a mistrial would be
declared.

Miyake said he immediately told Edwards' attorney and judge about finding
the receipt. Defense attorneys asked for a mistrial, but U.S. District
Court Judge Jack Tanner refused.

Instead, Miyake had one of the police officers take the stand and
"discover" the receipt hidden in the bag.

"A police officer then testified about the bail receipt, acting as if he
were discovering it for the first time in the courtroom," the appeals court
ruling says.

Miyake bristles at the suggestion he coached the police officer to lie.

"What I tried to do is remove myself (as a witness)," Miyake said. "I had
the officer on stand take a look under the false bottom. ...

"In looking back at it, it wasn't the best idea, but it wasn't coaching.
The court knew about it, defense knew about it and brought it out and made
me look bad at trial."

The appeals court also suggested the bail receipt could have come from the
uninventoried legal papers recovered from Edwards' car.

"The government's failure to keep an accurate record of these papers
heightens the suspicion that the bail receipt could have come from
somewhere other than the black bag," the opinion states.

Regardless, a jury convicted Edwards and he was sentenced to 21 years and
10 months in prison.

But the appeals court overturned the conviction.

In 1999, Edwards was convicted again and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
However, because the bail receipt had been tampered with, the appeals court
ruled Thursday, the case must be thrown out.

Avenia said it will be several weeks before the case is sent back to the
district court in Tacoma.

Until then, Edwards will remain in the federal penitentiary at Lompoc, Calif.