Thursday, April 2, 2015

Drug Dealer Says Cop Dangled Him Over A Balcony

By Ralph Cipriano
for Bigtrial.net

It was a police raid on a drug dealer holed up in his condo on North Front Street. The cop used a sledgehammer to bust open the  window on a steel door, so he could reach through the broken glass and turn the handle.

Moments later, the cop allegedly had marijuana dealer Jason Kennedy handcuffed and dangling over a third-floor balcony rail.

"He hung me over the balcony railing" some 30 feet above the ground, Kennedy told a federal jury. "I was up over the balcony like he was gonna drop me."

The cop asked "If I wanted to go head-first or feet-first, Kennedy testified. "I said feet-first and he said, 'You're not such a dumb fuck after all.' "

That's the story Kennedy told today in federal court. His assailant, he charged, was sledgehammer wielding former Police Officer Michael Spicer. Kennedy was one of three drug dealers who testified in court today about allegedly being robbed by a squad of six former Philadelphia narcotics officers. The question is whether the white suburban jury sitting in judgment will have more sympathy for cowboy narcs out there waging the war on drugs, or for the drug dealers they allegedly robbed and terrorized.

On Feb. 24, 2010, Jason Kennedy was waiting for a customer to stop by to buy some marijuana. The customer called when he was at the front door of Kennedy's 16-unit condo, so Kennedy buzzed him upstairs.

Kennedy came out of his apartment and the door locked automatically behind him. He peered through the safety glass window on a steel door opening on his floor to see if the buyer was out there. Instead, he saw someone he didn't know ducking down below the window.

The next thing that happened, Kennedy testified, was "I saw the sledgehammer" busting through the window shattering glass.

"I thought I was getting robbed," Kennedy told the jury. He had no idea that the guy in plainclothes wielding the sledgehammer was a cop.

Kennedy said he pulled out his keys to frantically unlock his apartment door. And just as he was dashing inside, Kennedy testified, Officer Spicer stuck his hand inside the door. So Kennedy "slammed the door" on Spicer's hand.

Spicer got angry about that, Kennedy said. A brief fight ensued.

"Officer Spicer punched me in the mouth," Kennedy said. The punch loosened a tooth. Then, the cop "was motioning like he was gonna hit me in the face with a sledgehammer," Kennedy said. That's when the drug dealer decided to give up.

The cop, Kennedy said, handcuffed his arms behind his back. Then he asked where Kennedy was keeping the guns and the cocaine.

Kennedy said he replied that he never had guns or coke in his life. Next, Kennedy testified, the cop "pushed me out there" on the balcony. Only then, Kennedy said, on the way out to the balcony did Officer Spicer identify himself as a cop. That was before he dangled Kennedy over the balcony.

Kennedy said the cop told him "all this could go away" if he would become a cooperator and tell the narcs who his suppliers were. Kennedy told the jury he had six pounds of marijuana stashed in his condo and $210,000 in cash. But he refused to cooperate.

"I was about to go make another buy," he said when Officer Spicer stopped by. Instead, he spent eight days in jail. When he got out, he testified, he went home and discovered, "My house was destroyed."

On a police report the cops listed only $130,970 that they recovered in cash when they raided the drug dealer's condo. Kennedy told the jury the cops stole the rest of the money he had stashed in his condo, some $80,000, plus a Calvin Klein suit.

On cross-examination, Jack McMahon, the defense lawyer for former Officer Brian Reynolds, quizzed Kennedy about the anti depressant and serotonin inhibitor drugs he was on.

That gave Kennedy a chance to talk about the severe post-traumatic stress disorder and depression that he had allegedly suffered since his encounter with Officer Spicer.

McMahon pointed out that Kennedy was breaking the law by dealing drugs. And one of the drawbacks of being a drug dealer McMahon said, was the risk of narcotics officers raiding your condo.

Does that risk include "getting hung over a balcony," Kennedy asked McMahon.

McMahon asked if Kennedy would have let Officer Spicer in if he had known he was a cop.

Yep, Kennedy claimed, if only he knew would have let Officer Spicer in through the front door.

He didn't say he would have also baked a cake.

In the courtroom, relatives of the defendants snickered.

McMahon asked Kennedy about his alleged injuries after the fight with Officer Spicer. Did he bleed, the defense lawyer wanted to know. Did he have any facial wounds?

"My tooth went through my lip," Kennedy said. After Officer Spicer punched him in the face, Kennedy said, he fell backwards and hit the back of his head on a hard tile floor.

Did you have a huge lump, McMahon asked. Yes, Kennedy replied, he did have a "huge lump on the back of his head." Of course, Kennedy said, "My hair was covering it."

"On your head," McMahon cracked, running one hand over his own bald head.

The jury laughed.

McMahon seemed intent on pinning Kennedy down on his alleged wounds, possibly because he planned to show the jury some police mug shots of Kennedy with no discernible injuries. But it was almost 4:30, and Judge Eduardo Robreno brought down the curtain for the day.

Earlier, Michael Lau, another marijuana dealer, testified to the jury that the narcs arrested him on June 7, 2010 after they caught him getting into a car at 10th and Race carrying two pounds of marijuana and a duffel bag containing between $10,000 and $13,000. But the cops didn't take any of that.

While Lau was in jail, however, the cops raided his mother's apartment, where Lau was staying, and stole $35,000 in cash, the drug dealer said. He hid the money in a shopping bag stashed inside his third-floor bedroom, he told the jury.

Lau wound up pleading guilty to selling marijuana and was placed on probation. A year later, the same cops, he said, arrested him again. This time when he pleaded guilty he got five years probation. That's when he decided to give up the drug business.

On cross-examination, Jack McMahon asked Lau how long he had been dealing drugs. Lau told the defense lawyer he had only been dealing "approximately a couple of months" before he got arrested.

McMahon quizzed Lau about why he decided to go into the drug business.

"Money," Lau deadpanned.

How did he find suppliers?

"Ask around," he said.

Who's your supplier, McMahon wanted to know.

"Don't know his name," Lau said.

"What did he look like," McMahon asked.

"Asian," Lau said.

Lau said he only made 30 to 50 drug transactions during his entire career. Most deals were smalltime, such as selling a quarter of a pound of marijuana for $1,000 that he bought for $600, making a $400 profit.

Adding insult to injury, the prosecution called Lau's mother as a witness. Nancy Lau testified she had no idea her son was a drug dealer. The cops who raided her house, she said, told her she might be evicted. The cops also told her she might lose her job as a clerk in Family Court, Lau testified.

After her son got out of jail and came home, his mother was "very mad," Nancy Lau testified. "He wasn't allowed back."

The feds also summoned Gabriel Levin, Lau's former defense lawyer, as a witness. Levin told the jury that after his second arrest for dealing marijuana, Lau told his lawyer that the cops had robbed him. But he couldn't remember much else.

On cross-examination, Levin admitted to the FBI that Lau had said the cops stole "something like $20,000."

"It was a long time ago," Levin said. "I have no idea if it's true," he told another defense lawyer, Jeffrey Miller, on cross-examination. "That's what he [Lau] told me."

Levin has since given up criminal law.

The other prosecution witness who testified today was former marijuana dealer Ian Bates.

On December 7, 2009, Bates said, he was enjoying his own product when he heard a knock on the door. He was expecting a friend. Instead, he opened the door and saw four narcs dressed in plainclothes.

"They told me they could smell marijuana," Bates told the jury.

Bates showed the cops a metal box on the floor containing $86,000. "I was hoping they would take it and leave," he said.

But that wasn't all the money he had. He also had $30,000 stuffed in his guitar case, he testified. And $12,000 on a nightstand.

"I was going to buy 20 pounds of marijuana," he said. He already had nine pounds in a duffel bag.

On their arrest report, the cops claimed they had only found $65,000 in his place. They kept the rest, some $60,000, Bates claimed.

Why didn't you file a complaint, the prosecutor wanted to know.

It would have been "my word against theirs," Bates said.

A subsequent bust convinced Bates to give up being a drug dealer. He now works as a waiter, he told the jury.

On cross-examination, Bates told defense lawyer McMahon that he got tired of dealing with shady characters.

"Not everyone's always honest," Bates said.

"We can agree on something," McMahon said.

McMahon asked if there was any proof to back up Bates' story about all the money he had supposedly lying around in his apartment, any witnesses to back up his claim that the narcs had robbed him.

"No one else on earth can testify to this except you the drug dealer," McMahon asked.

"Yes," Bates said.

Defense lawyer Jeffrey Miller asked Bates about his decision to cooperate with police after they busted him a second time. Was it a difficult decision to make? Did he come to some epiphany?

Bates said after sitting there for 20 minutes in handcuffs he made the reluctant decision to give up "his friends and business associates" in exchange for his freedom.

The trial resumes at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday.

30 comments

  1. funny how the drug dealers all have the exact same story.
    But I guess the feds didn't tell them what to say

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    Replies
    1. Or just that drug dealers operate in similar fashion

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    2. They operated in a similar fashion only on these 19 cases. Things that make you go hhhhmmm...

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  2. Inquiring minds wanna knowApril 3, 2015 at 9:12 AM

    Really don.t see what the cops did wrong so far they were a little rough with the thugs but got results lets move on to the next democrat.

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    Replies
    1. For those of u who get offended by the word blacks or N word we go with the new Politicaly correct definition democrat then there.s no fuss.

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  3. Same exact story. The cops came in, pushed me around, threatened to throw me off a balcony, and robbed me. But I didn't file a complaint and decided to cooperate with the very people who allegedly stole large amounts of money from me. The Feds coached these guys to tell the same story - it's called "Testilying." Still no real concrete evidence (audio or video surveillance) of wrongdoing by the police. Just the word of convicted drug dealers. The Feds did not interview any police supervisors, who are there for all these type of take-downs.

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  4. Dirty cops. Ex crooked narcs. Shame on you Phila. City of Brotherly love my ass. Im moving back to Deleware.

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  5. Interesting how a drug dealer admits he lied under oath to the grand jury about his testimony
    I think that what we call perjery. the drug dealer wants his rights not to be violated.
    But he was OK to violate the cops rights. This case should be dismissed

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    Replies
    1. Or others would call perjury...but whos counting. I feel you cuz.

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  6. Tom L. Always kept a few $50 bags of re rock around. Thats what he field tested during a bust just incase the dealer had a bunch of cut or Psuedo(cut material) ;this assured that Tom L. got the arrest then he would go back and steal everything he could from the dealers home or apt. I can go on and on and on lol What the hell. I may just go into courtroom 15A and whisper in Jack M.(Attorney)ear about a few more things i know lol. 
    Let the dirty bastards PAY THE TIME-THEY DID THE CRIME!
    SALUTE TO THE BETTER POLICE OFFICERS AND BROTHERS IN BLUE OF PHILADELPHIA. RID THE FORCE OF CANCER LIKE THESE DEFENDENTS(NIT WITS)ON TRIAL Tom L. Always kept a few $50 bags of re rock around. Thats what he field tested during a bust just incase the dealer had a bunch of cut or Psuedo(cut material) ;this assured that Tom L. got the arrest then he would go back and steal everything he could from the dealers home or apt. I can go on and on and on lol What the hell. I may just go into courtroom 15A and whisper in Jack M.(Attorney)ear about a few more things i know lol. 
    Let the dirty bastards PAY THE TIME-THEY DID THE CRIME!
    SALUTE TO THE BETTER POLICE OFFICERS AND BROTHERS IN BLUE OF PHILADELPHIA. RID THE FORCE OF CANCER LIKE THESE DEFENDENTS(NIT WITS)ON TRIAL.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sound like a broken record cuz ^.
      No jury is gonna convict these guys not with these idiot witnesses not happening. Got a better shot of buying a bridge. Not Guilty folks No brainer here.

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  7. Let me reFresh your memory
    Sammy the bull/ john john veasy!
    FEDS used them and won the cases.
    get your head out the sand. Tell them 6 dirty F'n narcs...the feds only have one visiting day a month and tell the familys save up cause plane tickets are exspensive.(Beumont Texas Fed Pen)

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  8. Ok slappy mo I can see your very upset with these guys doing there Jobs did they bust a friend of yours or bitch slap you during a bust. Sammy the bull John John Veasey and Ron Previte weren.t testifying again.st cops doing there Job. Also Slappy there were tons of audio and surveilance photos of guys commiting crimes.These witnesses already have admitted lying to the courts and no audio or surveilance of the cops wrong doing except for these 19 idiots who got busted with the goods. Sammy /Ron/John were commiting these crimes on orders. I don.t see were the cops ordered them to sell drugs. Your hatred is clouding your Judegement of the truth Pal move on.
    NOT GUILTY ON ALL COUNTS! !!!!"
    NEED FACTS HERE CUZ THESE AREN.T PRIEST ON HERE. THERE COPS WHO PUT THERE ASSES ON THE LINE EVERY DAY TO PROTECT US. NOT SOME LYING DRUG DEALING JUNKIES WHO GOT THETE MULLET CRACKED TO GET ANSWERS. ITS THE ONLY THING THESE HOODLUMS UNDERSTAND. VIOLATED THESE IDIOTS CAN.T EVEN SPELL THE WORD LET ALONE REMEBER WHAT THEY SAID. PUT THEM UP THERE AGAIN AFTER ALL 19 TESTIFY AND U.LL GET 19 DIFFERENT STORIES

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    1. this slap jack do do bird always good for a laff. prob still rockin La Coq Sportif sweatsuits. my man!

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    2. Hey Dogg don.t make fun of my sweats Yo. At least im not smelling like ass yo!!! Lol

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  9. Two up may be u can call Rev Al Sharpie and call it a racial hatred toward democrat drug dealers that.ll work. U can get a bunch hoodlums together oh ya don.t forget your hoodies with the saying we was VIOLATED for selling drugs in our neighbor hood and march down North Broad st what a frighin Joke you people are.

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  10. how about the dealer who lied to the grand jury and the feds dropped that charge, but not until after the grand jury, the feds are as bad as the dealers
    CASE DISMISSED

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  11. Its all bullshit the Judge 'Prosecutors and Others know this. They caught one cop walker with the goods. Instead of prosecuting him they make a deal he lies his ass off they get nothing for a 7 or 8 ur investigation hoping the other cops would plea out but what would they plea too doing there Jobs now they.ll get nothing but not guilty verdicts Our lovely tax payer money at work. Federal Supervisors really need to look into the people running these Jobs and not getting proper evidence and facts before taking these weak cases to court. Especially this one affecting the lives of 6 decorated officers and there family built on fabricated evidence and no eye wittness testimony other than those looking to lessen there sentences for getting caught in the first place.

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  12. I sat and ljstened to these douchebags testylie and I left court with a migraine. WTF it is amazing but also scary to know a bunch of lying thieving drug dealers have the ability to ruin your life and your career

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  13. Inquiring minds wanna knowApril 7, 2015 at 8:08 AM

    Ok!!! Lets see what the next drug dealer caught with the goods says to reduce his sentence and lie his democrat ass off. When this case is finish u could put it on americas funniest home videos.

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  14. Lying thriving drug dealers=narcs right?

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    Replies
    1. Sorry there slug no Jury is gonna believe this stuff ur dreaming even the prosecution knows its a longshot

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    2. Hey slap jack. Who said anything about jury believing drug dealers? Back to your coloring books momo.

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  15. Send all 6 of them dirty thief...law breaking ex narcotic officers to Levinworth. Give them all 40yrs hard time to think about using our police bages as shields to commit crime!

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    1. Hey slug u must be one them kiss ass ball washing guys under achievers who can.t get promoted because they got kool aid in there veins. Lol

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    2. Maybe so. But im not going where them no god crooked 6 are going thats for sure! You must have not heard? This judge has it in for these cops. And the feds have a ace card waiting to be played. Sad excuses for police officers these 6. And yes...this is much bigger then you and I. The City of Phila. are looking and going to make a very big example out of these dirty narcotics officer real soon. No integrity for the uniform.

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    3. Its Leavenworth cuz

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    4. All the same for them gun totting thug ex dirty narcs 6 cots and six hots will do them well.

      Delete
  16. Well haters not goonna argue with QB.s in the know. Yes Judge Robreno is a fair and good man if they are found guilty they will do hard time. With that said the Ace in the hole im sure the defense already knows about but the evidence is weak no audio and pics of wrong doing. Best case scenario mistrial but probably found not guilty. Just my opinion.

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