Police testimony is often vital to the prosecution in criminal defense cases. When that testimony is not credible, prosecutors may not have enough evidence to prove a defendant's guilt. That is what happened in a recent St. Louis drug charge case.

The defendant was serving a 25-year prison sentence for possessing crack cocaine and possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug crime. He maintained that he was innocent throughout the trial.

Now, the two police officers who testified against him have been discredited and he has been set free.

The first officer who testified against the defendant, Bobby Lee Garrett, was sentenced to 28 months in prison for stealing government property, misapplication of government funds, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and making false statements. Garrett not only made a false arrest but also planted drugs in past cases. The defendant himself had accused Garrett of planting the drugs in his case.

The second officer, Shell Sharp, was accused of lying to judges in order to obtain search warrants. Sharp had testified against the defendant in the St. Louis drug crime case, claiming the defendant dropped a bag of drugs when he was fleeing the police.

The defendant appealed twice. He lost the first appeal. U.S. District Court Judge Carol E. Jackson presided over the second appeal. She requested a re-trial. The prosecutors no longer had drug evidence and neither Sharp nor Garrett could testify again. This meant that the prosecutors had very little evidence to help them win their case in re-trial. They asked for the St. Louis drug crime case to be dismissed, which was granted.

Unreliable testimony is one of many defenses available to drug crime defendants. If you are facing St. Louis drug charges, speak with an experienced criminal defense lawyer about the defenses available to you.

Source: Stltoday.com, "After police discredited, drug charges against St. Louis man are dropped," Robert Patrick, Dec. 27, 2011.