Tucker Wants Evidence Thrown Out

Lawyers for Penelope Tucker, the 12th defendant named in the federal indictment against BetonSports (BoS), have filed a new set of pretrial motions asking for evidence to be thrown out based on the conduct of FBI agents during the search and seizure process.

Motion to Compel

Special Agent David O. Rizi, who conducted the search and seizure of Tucker's Miami home on February 15, 2007 (and who arrested Tucker in July), according to his own affidavit, relied on confidential informants who had never in the past been "proven to be knowingly wrong." Tucker's Miami-based attorney, Michael J. Rosen, argues that this use of obscure language presents a question as to the reliability of the confidential sources. Thus, he is asking that the court grant the defendant access to any information which was in any way incorrect, wrong or inaccurate that was supplied by either of the informants, regardless of whether such information was "knowingly wrong" or "never proven" to be wrong.

This information may include the date, time and place of false testimony and the identity of the person giving the false testimony.

Motion to Suppress

Further to the motion to compel, Rosen has filed a motion to suppress the evidence obtained in the search, and has requested an evidentiary hearing on the matter.

Rosen argues that the government failed to establish probable cause to search Tucker's properties because the warrant was obtained before the superseding indictment, which named Tucker as a defendant, was filed. The original indictment, filed in June 2006, excluded Tucker and her alleged involvement with the illegal companies connected to the BoS enterprise, including gaming site Igotgaming.com and Hope Mills Universal, an illegal prescription drug site.

Furthermore, Rosen argues that Rizi violated the terms of the search warrant because he extended the search of Tucker's property by continuing to search Tucker's laptop computer well beyond the 10-day time period allowed by the warrant.

Tucker on Tuesday was granted a hearing on the evidence obtained during the search and seizure of her two Miami properties to determine whether the evidence is admissible. She will appear in St. Louis on Oct. 23.

Click here to view a copy of the Motion to Compel.

Click here to view a copy of the Application and Affidavit for Search Warrant.

Click here to view a copy of the Motion to Supress.