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CAMDEN, NJ----Can you say police incompetence?
If investigators of the Camden police department missed 30 bags of what appeared to be crack cocaine and an alleged stolen credit card in the bullet-ridden, bloodied jacket of the victim entered as evidence in an attempted murder trial, wouldn't you wonder about the arrest made in the case?
Charles Gould, 25, is on trial in state Superior Court in Camden on attempted murder charges, accused of shooting Dwaun Drayton, 33, on Dec. 2, 2003 after Drayton identified him as the shooter.
But maybe the police should have taken a closer look at the alleged victim.
During jury deliberations Thursday, a juror was examining the coat worn by Drayton when he was shot nine times, allegedly by Gould, when he answered a knock on a door at a house where he was living. No motive has been established for the shooting.
The juror was shocked to find 30 glassine envelopes of crack cocaine with a street value of about $300 in a jacket pocket, obviously overlooked by police investigators. The jacket had been in an evidence locker since the shooting. Previously, prosecutors had found a credit card in the name of someone other than Drayton, a watch, car keys, a toothbrush and other items.
The judge has suspended deliberations until Tuesday. It is unknown if police will arrest Drayton for drug possession.
The discovery of the crack was the latest in the bizarre case. Last month, in an evening following jury selection in the trial when Drayton had been present in the courtroom, he was ambushed and shot in the hand. During the trial, he testified that the latest shooting was due to a response he had made to a question asked by defense attorney Winston Extavour during jury selection.
Extavour has been sanctioned $1,480 by the judge for failing to appear in court to resume the trial after proceedings had been adjourned for Christmas. Extavour had vacationed in the Ivory Coast over the holidays and was still in France, not the courtroom, when the trial resumed following Christmas. The amount represented a $1,000 sanction for failing to appear and the $40 daily fee paid to the jurors who had to be sent home. 1-06-06
© 2005 North
Country Gazette
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