Bought Drugs From Odom, Witness Says : Key Testimony in Ex-Ballplayer’s Trial Is Bolstered by Policeman

A key prosecution witness testified Thursday that he twice bought small amounts of cocaine from former major league pitcher John (Blue Moon) Odom in the parking lot of the plant where they worked. The testimony was later bolstered by an Irvine police officer.

Willie Earl Harris, 42, said he paid Odom $100 for half a gram of cocaine on May 17, 1985, and again a week later in the parking lot of the now-defunct Xerox computer plant in Irvine.

Harris, leading off the prosecution’s case during the first day of testimony in Orange County Superior Court, also testified that he had bought cocaine from Odom “two or three years” before the alleged 1985 incidents for which Odom is being tried before a four-man, eight-woman jury.

Harris also told the court that the cocaine he bought from Odom, who pitched in three World Series with the Oakland A’s in the early 1970s, was for a friend and that he did not use the drug. Harris was arrested for possession of cocaine as he left the plant on May 24, 1985. Minutes later, Odom was stopped by police a few blocks from the plant.

Officer Testifies

Harris also said he was not promised any help from the district attorney’s office in his own case in return for his testimony against Odom, 41. He said he was testifying against Odom because “it was the right thing to do.”

However, defense attorney Stephan A. DeSales called Harris an “untrustworthy” witness who has given inconsistent testimony since the investigation began 14 months ago.

“That was his fifth version (of the incident). He wants us to believe he (testified) just because he’s a good guy,” DeSales said after Harris completed his testimony.

Irvine Police Officer Gregory C. Gibbs testified that on May 17, 1985, while on an undercover assignment, he observed Odom and Harris engaging in what appeared to be a drug transaction. Gibbs said no arrests were made that day because he did not have adequate support. He said he observed the two men from a parking lot across the street from the Xerox parking lot.

Gibbs acknowledged that two-foot-high bushes obscured part of his view but said Odom was under surveillance from that date until May 24, when he was observed again engaging in what appeared to be a drug transaction with Harris.

Police Confiscated $382

Police found no drugs in Odom’s possession or in his car at the time of his arrest. But they confiscated $382 in cash that they said represented Odom’s profits from cocaine sales.

The prosecution also introduced a list found in Odom’s wallet that Deputy Dist. Atty. Gregg L. Prickett claimed was a “pay-owe sheet” of drug transactions. DeSales, however, said the list really contained notations and names of customers who bought cosmetics products from Odom and his wife, Gayle.

DeSales, who begins the defense on Monday when the trial resumes, will lay the groundwork to try to prove that Odom was framed by police and Harris, and that Odom’s former co-worker is only trying to save himself from his own legal problems.

Odom said he is nervous about the trial but is still confident that he will be acquitted.

“I know I’m not guilty,” said Odom, who is expected to testify on his behalf late Monday or Tuesday.