3 drug convicts seek new trials

CLEVELAND (AP) — Three convicted drug dealers want a judge to grant them new trials because their cases were handled by a federal agent now accused of framing other people.

U.S. District Court Judge James Gwin, who conducted a second day of hearings on the matter Tuesday, must decide whether to grant new trials to Carl Henderson, Gerald Taylor and Maurion Lewis. Each was sentenced to more than 10 years in prison.

Their cases were handled by Lee Lucas, a Drug Enforcement Administration agent who has pleaded not guilty to charges that he framed 17 people in a botched 2005 drug sting in Mansfield. His trial is scheduled for Jan. 6.

The former top federal prosecutor in northern Ohio, Greg White, testified Monday that Lucas was considered truthful but prosecutors sometimes worried that he was trying to do too much, too fast.

In May, Lucas was charged in an 18-count indictment involving a drug probe where he oversaw informant Jerrell Bray as he made 15 undercover sales over two months.

But 13 of the deals were bogus, leading to trumped-up charges against 17 people.