The Orange Leader
September 3, 1988
Witness: Wade gave drugs to friend
by Mike Wheeler
Staff Reporter
BEAUMONT - A prosecution witness said Friday she was resent when suspended Orange County Sheriff James Wade gave illegal drugs to one of her friends.
Judy Morrison, in a videotaped deposition given at the Federal Building here, said she was at the home of Jon Reaud in Beaumont in July 1987 when she was introduced to a visitor there Reaud called only "Jim."
"But, I recognized the man as Orange County Sheriff James Wade because I had seen him on television when the news told about a big drug bust in Orange County," Morrison testified.
"I told him I knew who he was and he just looked at me funny, like 'How did you know that?'" the witness said.
Morrison's testimony was videotaped because the witness is three days overdue in her pregnancy and her doctor advised that she not travel.
Although Morrison said Wade never spoke to her, she did say the sheriff asked Reaud what Reaud was doing on the weekend and asked if Reaud would like to accompany (Wade) to Austin.
"Jon was having problems with his roommate, ... and was very depressed at the time, and he told Sheriff Wade that he would be staying home," Morrison said.
The witness testified that Wade then told Reaud that Reaud could "either stay there and be depressed over (the roommate) or go to Austin with me."
"Then the sheriff told Jon he had 'something that will cheer you up,'" Morrison said.
According to Morrison's testimony Friday, Wade then made a telephone call and told Reaud that, "when it rings, I need to answer it."
"It rang about five or 10 minutes later, the sheriff answered it and in a few minutes another guy arrived at Jon's house," Morrison said. "Sheriff Wade answered the door and he was nervous and edgy."
Morrison described the new arrival as a "small, frail guy with long dirty hair" and carrying a briefcase.
The witness said the three men went back to the kitchen in the house for a few minutes and then the "other guy abruptly left."
Morrison said she overheard Wade and Reaud talking in the kitchen, and heard Reaud ask Wade, "What is Meth?" and said that the sheriff told Reaud that meth was a "man-made speed."
Morrison said she then saw Reaud take money from his wallet and attempt to give it to the sheriff.
"But Sheriff Wade told Jon that 'this one's on me; don't worry about it,'" Morrison testified.
Under cross examination by Wade's attorney, Jeff Kearney, Morrison did say that she did not hear what Wade had said while on the telephone and never actually saw any drugs exchanged.
Morrison did say, though, that Reaud showed her a plastic bag "with white powder in it" after the sheriff left Reaud's house.
Morrison testified that she saw Wade on one other occasion, later in 1987, at Reaud's house in Beaumont and said the sheriff had a "large paper bag full of packages of diet pills with him."
A former drug informant for Wade, Donnie Flowers, has testified in Wade's trial that he delivered methamphetamine to Reaud while Wade was at Reaud's house in Beaumont.
Flowers also testified that wade had furnished money, chemicals and Laboratory equipment to Flowers and four co-conspirators in an alleged drug trafficking scheme in Orange County.
Flowers told FBI agents last January about Wade's involvement in the drug scheme; Wade was indicated on drug charges on May 2.
Wade's trial began Aug. 15 in Sherman and will enter its fourth week beginning next Tuesday, When testimony resumes at 9 a.m.
The videotaped testimony of Morrison probably will be shown to jurors next week when the trial resumes.
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