Former deputy saw drug delivery
August 29, 1988
by Mike Wheeler
Staff Reporter
SHERMAN - A former Orange County Sheriff's Department deputy could testify in the third week of the federal drug trial of suspended Orange County Sheriff James Wade, which began at 9a.m. today in the Grayson County Courthouse in Sherman.
The trial was recessed Friday after only two hours of testimony when government attorneys said their next witness' testimony could be lengthy.
The testimony could come from former Orange County Deputy Don Duhon, who - although he has said he was not directly involved in the drug scheme - also says he witnessed delivery of drugs and laboratory equipment used in the illegal drug operation while Wade was present.
Duhon was hired by Wade in January 1987, but resigned one year later when he was identified as a government witness against the sheriff.
In testimony Friday, Dr. Howard Williams, medical director for Orange County, said Duhon was the only deputy ever hired by Wade who had not been given a drug screen test.
Wade was indicted May 2 at the conclusion of an FBI investigation into allegations of a former drug informant for the sheriff who said Wade had financed and equipped a two-year long drug trafficking operation in Orange County.
During testimony last week, accused drug dealer and one-time Wade informant Donnie Flowers, who is an unindicted co-conspirator in the case, said Wade was the "boss" of the drug scheme.
Flowers also admitted that he had traded testimony against Wade for not being prosecuted by the government for his involvement in the alleged drug operation.
Assistant U. S. attorneys Paul Naman, Stewart Platt and Tom Meehan, Prosecuting the case, contend Wade was corrupt in operating the county sheriff's department and used his position as sheriff to finance and equip the drug operation.
Wade's attorneys, Gary Richardson of Tulsa, Okla., and Jeff Kearney of Fort Worth contend their client posed as a "dirty sheriff" in order to get close to Orange County drug dealers.
Nearly 40 of 55-60 government witnesses have testified during the first two weeks of the trial, including Flowers, an Orange County Sheriff's Department officer, a Houston Police Department vice officer, an Orange County attorney's office investigator, two FBI agents and eight witnesses who testified to Wade's financial condition during 1987.
Back
