Jones' defense lawyer, Hunt Charach, cross-examined Churchill about his drug dealing. Churchill began contradicting himself. He admitted that he had lied about his criminal record and his background. Charach also cited testimony from a drug agent, who said that Churchill was selling crack outside the supervision and knowledge of his drug-agent handlers. When Charach finished cross-examining Churchill, Assistant U.S. Attorney J. Kirk Brandfass requested the dismissal.
Bad informants can mess up cases in other ways.
Kanawha County prosecutors were forced to dismiss two separate drug cases which featured the same informant, Paul Doug Smith, when it was learned that he would not be available for trial in either case. He was in a Florida jail on drug charges. Criminals, addicts, thugs' Informants don't necessarily bolster the chances that a drug case will end with a conviction, at least not in Kanawha Circuit Court. Prosecutors aided by informants in drug cases fare about as well as prosecutors who get their evidence from traffic stops, street surveillance and other police techniques, records show. Confidential informants played a role in about 123 of 234 drug cases filed in Kanawha Circuit Court between 1992 and 1997, according to court records.