October 9, 2015 at 1:18 p.m.
Milwaukee man found guilty of conspiracy to deal heroin
Jones faces up to 15 years in prison at sentencing
Milwaukee man found guilty of conspiracy to deal heroin
Deangelo M. Jones was found guilty of the sole felony charge against him after a two-day trial in Oneida County Circuit Court.
Jones was one of three people arrested just before midnight on July 23, 2014.
He was stopped by an Oneida County sheriff's deputy just minutes after he had bonded out of jail on an earlier arrest for giving a false identity to a Rhinelander police officer.
Investigator Kyle Parish of the Rhinelander Police Department testified he had received information from a confidential informant that Jones was bringing heroin into Oneida County from Milwaukee and it was being sold by at least one local person.
After Jones' was first arrested, investigators learned from another informant that Katelin J. Fier, 24, of Rhinelander, was selling heroin in the area to raise the $779 needed for his bond. She was the driver of the vehicle in both traffic stops where Jones was arrested. She, along with Corey W. Harms, 28, of Rhinelander, was also arrested in the second traffic stop.
During the first stop, Suboxone was confiscated from Fier's car. According to court testimony, Fier told a deputy she had a prescription for the drug but that wasn't true. Suboxone is a drug prescribed to heroin addicts to help them beat their addiction by making the symptoms of withdrawal easier to handle. It is frequently abused by drug addicts and is sold as a substitute for heroin.
All three made their initial court appearances on the conspiracy charge on July 25 before Branch II Judge Michael Bloom. Fier was released on a $5,000 signature bond. Bloom set Jones' bond at $10,000. When Bloom set Harms'cash bond at $7,500, he started yelling profanities, causing the judge to increase bond to $12,500 and find him in contempt of court. His case was transferred to Branch I where he had several other outstanding cases pending.
Jones' cash bond was eventually lowered to $3,500, which he posted.
Jones was bound over for trial after his preliminary hearing on Sept. 12, 2014.
Jones did not appear for a later court date and a warrant was issued for his arrest. He was eventually charged with felony bail jumping. At an April 22 hearing, Jones' attorney James Toran withdrew from the case, delaying the jury trial that was scheduled to start that day. On May 13, Michael Chernin took over as Jones' attorney. In July, a jury trial was scheduled for October.
After a process that took about an hour Wednesday morning, a 12-person jury panel was selected and seated.
In his opening remarks, Oneida County district attorney Michael Schiek told jurors Fier would testify about her role in the heroin operation and her testimony would be corroborated by testimony from Harms, William McCarty and Parish.
He told them that while Fier was given a plea deal in exchange for her testimony, it is often necessary to give a "deal" to a lower level player in order to convict a "bigger fish."
"We will explain everything to you; we will not try to hide anything," Schiek said.
He added that Fier was placed on probation as part of her plea agreement but the probation was later revoked and she served time in jail. Her deferred entry of judgment agreement, however, was not revoked.
He said the defense would try to paint an unpleasant picture of Fier and the other two witnesses and urged the jury to look past that to see the facts.
"This case is about the delivery of heroin into Oneida County," Schiek said.
In his opening remarks, Chernin laid the groundwork for attacking the credibility of Fier, Harms and McCarty.
He said Harms specifically "had an axe to grind against Mr. Jones" because Fier was romantically involved with both of them.
Chernin also sought to insert the issue of race into the case, since Jones is the only one of the four who is not white. He said that if you put in a call to "central casting" for a drug dealer an actor looking like Jones is what you would probably get.
"If you were to look around the courtroom and try to pick out someone who is involved with drug trafficking you'd pick the black man with a goatee," Chernin said.
After a break for lunch, Schiek went about calling his witnesses. His original plan was to call Fier first, but a medical emergency made her temporarily unavailable. Instead, he opened his case by calling McCarty to the witness stand.
McCarty testified that at the time of his arrest in August 2014, he was an admitted "drug addict" looking to "use" any type of opiate he could get his hands on. He testified that he purchased heroin from both Fier and Jones on several occasions. He said he would pay $50 for a .10 gram "bindle." Schiek had McCarty explain how heroin was "cooked" and injected as well as the effects of the "high" he experienced from the drug.
McCarty testified that Jones sent him $25 so he and a relative would drive down to Milwaukee and bring him to Rhinelander on July 22, 2014.
Under cross-examination by Chernin, McCarty admitted that he has five drug-related convictions on his record but insisted that he was no longer using drugs.
"If we were to check your arms would we find needle marks," Chernin asked?
McCarty said that there would be needle marks because he suffers from a medical condition that requires frequent injections of medicine.
After a brief recess, Harms, who is serving a prison sentence involving three years of confinement and four years extended supervision in connection with several unrelated charges, including dealing heroin, took the witness stand. Schiek told the jury that Harms did not receive a plea agreement in exchange for his testimony.
Harms testified he met Jones through Fier in January 2014 and that he bought heroin directly from Jones "at least twice" after that. He also admitted that he was a "full user" of heroin, morphine and other opiates at the time.
He testified that Fier contacted him during the afternoon of July 23, 2014 to say she needed his help selling heroin in order to raise money for Jones' bail.
He testified that he helped her by setting up deals for her with some people he knew wanted the drug. He went with Fier to bail Jones out of jail and was in the car when they were pulled over a half mile from the jail.
Harms admitted he has 18 criminal convictions on his record, but repeated that he did not receive a deal from the state in exchange for his testimony.
Under cross-examination by Chernin, Harms admitted that he had been in a romantic relationship with Fier starting in 2013. He also admitted he knew she was also romantically involved with Jones as well.
He said he and Fier had an "open relationship."
Chernin read a text message Harms had sent Fier, recovered from his cellphone, in which he expressed how much he cares for her.
When he was done, he asked Harms "is there anyone else you 'love more than anyone else?'"
"Yes, actually," Harms replied.
Chernin pointed out that of the 1,512 texts recovered from Harms' cellphone - and held up a bundle of printed transcripts to emphasize his point - there were over 100 he sent to Fier to which she never replied.
"Mr. Harms, you don't like Mr. Jones do you," Chernin asked.
"I don't dislike Mr. Jones," Harms replied, but did admit later that Fier sleeping with other men did "bother him a little bit."
Chernin also asked if he knew for certain if Jones was bringing heroin to Rhinelander from Milwaukee, or if he was Fier's only source of the drug.
"That's incorrect," Harms said, adding that Jones himself had told him he was bringing the drug to Fier.
When the trial resumed Thursday morning, Schiek called Fier to testify.
Fier told the jury she met Jones while she was living in Milwaukee for a short time and became indebted to him for several thousand dollars. She said she didn't start using, and becoming addicted to, heroin, until after she started selling it for Jones in Rhinelander.
Schiek asked Fier about three receipts she gave investigators for over $3,000 she wired to Jones in Milwaukee via Moneygram.
She told him the money was payment for heroin he provided to her to sell in the Rhinelander area for him.
She said when Jones would break it down to .10 gram bindles in her residence and wrap it in tinfoil.
After Jones was arrested on July 23, 2014, she immediately started selling heroin to raise his bond money, eventually selling enough with Harms' help to bond Jones out of jail, she recounted.
Schiek entered Fier's cellphone and transcripts of the text messages from the 24 hours or so before her arrest into evidence.
She testified that she usually deleted the text messages on a daily basis, but didn't have a chance that day due to her arrest. The messages contained conversations with people to whom she sold heroin to raise bond money for Jones.
Fier also clarified that she was already cooperating with investigators before the plea deal was worked out.
Under cross-examination by Chernin, Fier admitted she became upset with Jones when she learned he had another girlfriend, texting him to "lose my number."
Chernin pointed out that in addition to the heroin charges she faced in this case, she had several other felony charges pending and could have been sentenced to up to 18 years in prison, and numerous years of extended supervision, without the plea deal.
He also noted that she was charged with committing new crimes after getting the delayed entry of judgment in the case involving Jones.
"So the last vestige you have of holding onto this agreement is to come in today and testify," Chernin asked?
"Yes," Fier replied.
According to Moneygram records investigators obtained after the arrests, Fier sent a total of $2,831 to Jones in several transactions she said were not for heroin payments. Chernin asked Fier what that money was for and she said it was payment for morphine she was selling for Jones before started to sell heroin.
Chernin asked Fier to explain why she didn't tell this to investigators until after she was confronted with evidence that she paid more money to Jones then she had originally claimed.
"You have to agree that you weren't accurate here today in front of this jury," Chernin asked Fier. "So you are a liar, a thief, and a drug user?"
"Former drug user," Fier replied.
When Chernin tried to ask if she was still a liar and thief, Schiek objected and Bloom sustained the objection.
Parish was the last witness Schiek called to the stand. He said he received a tip from an informant about Jones and Fier even before Jones' first arrest, but didn't start looking into it until shortly before the first traffic stop.
He said he received more tips that Fier was selling heroin to raise Jones' bond and arranged for the second traffic stop after Jones was released.
While investigators normally try to conduct controlled buys to obtain actual drugs, because heroin is so dangerous they try to stop the sales immediately, he explained.
Based on the Moneygram records, the three wire transfers of funds Fier told him were for heroin payments to Jones, he said.
The person who picked up the money in Milwaukee used Jones' identification, he added.
Under cross-examination, Parish testified that Jones had two cellphones on his person when he was arrested but they were password protected and investigators could not immediately gain access to text messages on either of them.
He also testified that there were text messages on Fier's phone that showed she was selling heroin to raise Jones' bond, although the transactions were shrouded in slang and code.
"Most heroin dealers will not use the word heroin," Parish replied when Chernin asked him to explain the code language.
Chernin asked Parish if any heroin was ever recovered and the investigator replied that Fier had sold it all before her arrest.
After Parish's testimony, Schiek rested the prosecution's case. Chernin announced that Jones would not take the stand to testify in his own behalf and rested the defense.
After a break for lunch, Bloom gave the jury its instructions and both sides gave their closing arguments.
Schiek told the jury the state had proven that Jones had been involved in a conspiracy to bring heroin into Oneida County.
"The proof we have is the words of the addicts involved with him," he said.
Schiek told the jury that while the evidence against Jones is circumstantial, enough details wrtr given to add up to proof beyond a reasonable doubt.
Chernin argued that there were too many inconsistencies in the testimony of the three co-conspirators, particularly with Fier's changing story to investigators.
"We don't know what happened here," Chernin said. "There is smoke but no fire."
In a final rebuttal, Schiek referenced something Chernin had said in his opening statement.
"I'm not looking to convict someone who looks like a drug dealer," Schiek said. "I'm looking to convict someone who is a drug dealer."
After final instructions from Bloom, the jury started began deliberations. After the jurors left the courtroom, Schiek, Chernin and Bloom remained in court trying to decide which pieces of physical evidence to send back to them. Before they could finish, the bailiff informed them the jury had already reached a verdict.
In addition to finding Jones guilty of conspiracy to deliver heroin, the jury also agreed that the amount he conspired to deliver was in excess of 3 grams.
After Bloom entered a guilty verdict against Jones, Schiek requested a pre-sentence investigation be completed.
Bloom agreed to order one, but without a sentencing recommendation because he said he tends to disagree with the recommendations the Department of Justice makes. Because these reports tend to take up to two months to be returned, formal sentencing was delayed until Dec. 11. Jones was taken into custody until he can be sentenced.
He faces up to 15 years in prison and $50,000 in fines.
Jamie Taylor may be reached at [email protected].
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