Wednesday, July 10, 1996

Irvin Trial Delayed During Jury Questioning

DALLAS (AP) - Michael Irvin's cocaine possession trial was delayed by 90 minutes this morning while the judge looked into reports of possible jury tampering.

After speaking individually to each juror, state district judge Manny Alvarez kept the panel intact because none of the jurors acknowledged hearing a television station's promotion for a Thursday report alleging a jury tampering investigation.

"I asked if they saw anything on the networks, especially Channel 5, about this case. All 12 said no," Alvarez said.

Mike Gillett, the lead prosecutor, said the district attorney's office is not investigating any juror tampering allegations.

"I have no knowledge of that. Nor do any of the lawyers," Gillett said. "There has been no effort by anybody to tamper with this jury. We are not investigating."

A telephone message left with KXAS News Director Dave Overton was not immediately returned.
Before Irvin's trial began, KXAS had shown hidden-camera video reports purporting to show the football star discussing buying and using cocaine.

Alvarez said he again reminded jurors to avoid all media coverage about the case. He did not mention in court whether he was considering sequestering the jury.

Alvarez denounced the TV station's advertisement promoting an upcoming report on possible jury tampering.

Also today, Irving police detective James Hallum said there was 10-1/2 grams of cocaine taken as evidence from the motel room.

On Tuesday, Hallum said .0005 gram of cocaine was found on the only item belonging to Irvin and that it could have been spread inadvertently by police's handling of evidence.

The item - a test tube - was taken from atop Irvin's jewelry bag and packed in a plastic grocery bag along with several other pieces of evidence, including loose cocaine.
Irvin, charged with second-degree felony cocaine possession, could receive probation or up to 20 years in prison if convicted. He also faces a misdemeanor marijuana possession charge that will be heard later.

Topless dancers Angela Beck and Jasmine Nabwangu also face charges stemming from a March 4 incident at the Irving motel. Former Cowboy Alfredo Roberts was in the room but was not indicted.
Irvin's legal team has hammered on the issues of contamination and police incompetence to try planting reasonable doubt in the minds of jurors.

Both theories got a boost when Officer Brian Crum, the least experienced of the four officers who responded to an initial disturbance complaint, told defense attorney Royce West "it's possible" he contaminated some of the evidence.

Crum meant that he could have made a mistake by having pulled a plate of cocaine and marijuana from underneath a loveseat where Irvin was sitting once the furniture was lifted.

West - who said in his opening statement that Irving police made a "comedy of errors" in this case - later read a passage from the police manual that states officers DO NOT (in capital letters) gather or disturb evidence.

That charge began a debate about whether crime scene technicians should've been called to handle all evidence.

Hallum later testified that in his eight years as a narcotics officer he's never heard of crime scene specialists being called for a drug case.

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