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Drug arrest reveals police strategy: Possession charges lodged as informants don't testify
Zach Lowe
The Advocate
11/26/07
STAMFORD - The arrest of Mayor Dannel Malloy's 19-year-old son on drug charges shed light on the way police use confidential informants as buyers and protect them from testifying in court later, experts and police said.
Police arranged for an informant to buy drugs from Ben Malloy four times but did not charge Malloy with selling drugs. Instead, they used the sales to obtain a search warrant for Malloy's car, where they found enough evidence to charge him with possession of marijuana with intent to sell, which carries the same penalty as selling it, according to a police report.
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The strategy is typical, according to police and experts critical of the way police use informants. By not charging Malloy with any of the four sales, police do not need the informant's testimony to prove their case. The drugs found in his car likely will be enough to do that, and the informant's identity remains secret, allowing him to continue to work with police.
Opponents say the strategy adds to the secrecy around drug informants. Prosecutors said it allows them to pursue a conviction without relying on the testimony of someone jurors might consider a liar or a crook.
"That is very common," said Todd Fernow, a professor at the University of Connecticut School of Law and director of the school's Criminal Law Clinic. "You're not going to want to burn an informant in a case like this."
Police experts said informants known as drug users make handy buyers because dealers will not trust strangers or new customers.
"It is a widely, widely used practice," said Gabriel Sayegh, director of state organizing and policy projects for the New York office of the Drug Policy Alliance, a nonprofit that seeks to reform drug laws that carry mandatory prison sentences.
Several law enforcement officials confirmed they use informants as drug buyers, not just tipsters. They declined to be identified because they are not permitted to speak about police strategies.
Malloy, who has no police record, faces three misdemeanors and two felonies after Greenwich police on Nov. 7 found 34 bags of marijuana worth $20 each in his car and more drugs, including cocaine, in his bedroom at the mayor's home, according to a police report viewed exclusively by The Advocate.
The two felonies - possession of marijuana with intent to sell and possession of cocaine - are among the most common charges for about 15,000 sentenced prison inmates in Connecticut.
About 800 people were convicted of possession of cocaine, and about 200 were sent to prison for selling or intending to sell marijuana, state Department of Correction records show.
Experts have said Malloy likely will be granted entry into a probationary program for first-time offenders that could end with his record wiped clean.
Malloy probably will never know the identity of the informant who tipped police about his alleged dealing, then purchased drugs from him, experts said.
State and federal courts have long held that prosecutors do not have to identify informants unless the informant took part in the alleged crimes or was a crucial eyewitness.
The danger, opponents say, is that the public doesn't know who informants are, whether they are paid by police and whether they are committing crimes themselves.
"The government's use of criminal informants is largely secretive, unregulated and unaccountable," Alexandra Natapoff, a leading expert on informants and a law professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, told a congressional committee during a hearing on informants in July.
In a New York case, two college students arrested on drug charges became informants in exchange for a sentence that allowed them to avoid prison, according to published reports.
They arranged for their dealer to sell them 70 grams of cocaine - more than double any amount he had ever sold them. The dealer, Ashley O'Donoghue, is serving seven to 21 years in prison.
"That's how a lot of these busts work," said Sayegh, whose organization is seeking to have O'Donoghue's sentence decreased. "If I turn people in, I can get out of everything."
But a recent trial in Stamford illustrates problems that can arise when an informant testifies.
Todd Ruffin of Stamford was on trial this month for selling drugs to an informant four times in 2006, records show. Police officers didn't witness the deals up close and never obtained a search warrant for Ruffin or his property.
They needed the informant's testimony for a conviction.
A jury deliberated for nearly three days before acquitting Ruffin on all charges, largely because they didn't believe the informant.
"They just didn't believe a word he said," said Deputy Assistant State's Attorney David Applegate, who spoke with jurors after the trial. "He has a terrible record, so they felt he was inherently untruthful."
Most prosecutors would prefer a case like Malloy's in which they can rely on drugs seized under the authority of a search warrant, attorneys said.
The state prefers "to preserve its informants," Fernow said.
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Zach Lowe
The Advocate
11/26/07
STAMFORD - The arrest of Mayor Dannel Malloy's 19-year-old son on drug charges shed light on the way police use confidential informants as buyers and protect them from testifying in court later, experts and police said.
Police arranged for an informant to buy drugs from Ben Malloy four times but did not charge Malloy with selling drugs. Instead, they used the sales to obtain a search warrant for Malloy's car, where they found enough evidence to charge him with possession of marijuana with intent to sell, which carries the same penalty as selling it, according to a police report.
Advertisement
The strategy is typical, according to police and experts critical of the way police use informants. By not charging Malloy with any of the four sales, police do not need the informant's testimony to prove their case. The drugs found in his car likely will be enough to do that, and the informant's identity remains secret, allowing him to continue to work with police.
Opponents say the strategy adds to the secrecy around drug informants. Prosecutors said it allows them to pursue a conviction without relying on the testimony of someone jurors might consider a liar or a crook.
"That is very common," said Todd Fernow, a professor at the University of Connecticut School of Law and director of the school's Criminal Law Clinic. "You're not going to want to burn an informant in a case like this."
Police experts said informants known as drug users make handy buyers because dealers will not trust strangers or new customers.
"It is a widely, widely used practice," said Gabriel Sayegh, director of state organizing and policy projects for the New York office of the Drug Policy Alliance, a nonprofit that seeks to reform drug laws that carry mandatory prison sentences.
Several law enforcement officials confirmed they use informants as drug buyers, not just tipsters. They declined to be identified because they are not permitted to speak about police strategies.
Malloy, who has no police record, faces three misdemeanors and two felonies after Greenwich police on Nov. 7 found 34 bags of marijuana worth $20 each in his car and more drugs, including cocaine, in his bedroom at the mayor's home, according to a police report viewed exclusively by The Advocate.
The two felonies - possession of marijuana with intent to sell and possession of cocaine - are among the most common charges for about 15,000 sentenced prison inmates in Connecticut.
About 800 people were convicted of possession of cocaine, and about 200 were sent to prison for selling or intending to sell marijuana, state Department of Correction records show.
Experts have said Malloy likely will be granted entry into a probationary program for first-time offenders that could end with his record wiped clean.
Malloy probably will never know the identity of the informant who tipped police about his alleged dealing, then purchased drugs from him, experts said.
State and federal courts have long held that prosecutors do not have to identify informants unless the informant took part in the alleged crimes or was a crucial eyewitness.
The danger, opponents say, is that the public doesn't know who informants are, whether they are paid by police and whether they are committing crimes themselves.
"The government's use of criminal informants is largely secretive, unregulated and unaccountable," Alexandra Natapoff, a leading expert on informants and a law professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, told a congressional committee during a hearing on informants in July.
In a New York case, two college students arrested on drug charges became informants in exchange for a sentence that allowed them to avoid prison, according to published reports.
They arranged for their dealer to sell them 70 grams of cocaine - more than double any amount he had ever sold them. The dealer, Ashley O'Donoghue, is serving seven to 21 years in prison.
"That's how a lot of these busts work," said Sayegh, whose organization is seeking to have O'Donoghue's sentence decreased. "If I turn people in, I can get out of everything."
But a recent trial in Stamford illustrates problems that can arise when an informant testifies.
Todd Ruffin of Stamford was on trial this month for selling drugs to an informant four times in 2006, records show. Police officers didn't witness the deals up close and never obtained a search warrant for Ruffin or his property.
They needed the informant's testimony for a conviction.
A jury deliberated for nearly three days before acquitting Ruffin on all charges, largely because they didn't believe the informant.
"They just didn't believe a word he said," said Deputy Assistant State's Attorney David Applegate, who spoke with jurors after the trial. "He has a terrible record, so they felt he was inherently untruthful."
Most prosecutors would prefer a case like Malloy's in which they can rely on drugs seized under the authority of a search warrant, attorneys said.
The state prefers "to preserve its informants," Fernow said.
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