Chester County, PA - Chester County jury splits verdict on Outlaws charged in drug ring.

OFF THE WIRE
Kathleen Brady Shea
 philly.com

After nearly 16 hours of deliberations over two days, a Chester County Court jury delivered a split verdict on two members of the Outlaws Motorcycle Club implicated in what authorities termed a $5 million, multicounty drug ring.

Jeffrey J. "Death Row" Hampton, 37, of Westville, N.J., was convicted of about half of the more than 200 charges he faced. Charles D. "Panhead" Rees, 55, of Norristown, was found guilty of a single count each of possession with intent to deliver and criminal use of a communications facility, and was acquitted on 17 other charges.

Both were found not guilty of charges related to racketeering and corrupt organizations, their attorneys said Friday night.
J. Michael Farrell, who represented Hampton, praised the jury's attentive service. During his closing argument, he called Hampton a functioning methamphetamine addict who was targeted because he belongs to an unpopular group. He accused the prosecution of piling on charges in hopes of persuading the jury that the case had more substance.

James R. Freeman, counsel for Rees, agreed, labeling the case a travesty that wasted taxpayers' money. He said the government, intent on bringing down the motorcycle gang, built the case on the testimony of self-serving drug-dealers - "the dregs of humanity."

Freeman said he believed the verdict "could be perceived as a significant rebuke of the investigation as it pertained to Mr. Rees."

In his closing argument, Deputy Attorney General Andrew M. Rongaus acknowledged that drug dealers don't make upstanding witnesses; however, he said they corroborated the defendants' incriminating words, which were captured through wiretapped phone conversations.

The 11-month investigation, which tracked the drugs from Mexico to Atlanta to Philadelphia, Bucks, Montgomery, Chester, Camden, and Burlington Counties, began in late September 2008, and a statewide grand jury recommended charges against 40 suspects in August 2009, prosecutors said.
Of the 40 defendants, two dozen were from Philadelphia, 10 from South Jersey, and six from the Pennsylvania suburbs. Fifteen were members of the Philadelphia chapter of the Outlaws.
Rongaus said two other defendants went to trial and were convicted; most of the other defendants pleaded guilty.
Contact staff writer Kathleen Brady Shea at 610-696-3815 or kbrady@phillynews.com.