Convictions Urged in Soured Cocaine Deal

A federal prosecutor urged jurors Monday to convict two young men of narcotics and attempted murder charges for allegedly trying to run over five law enforcement officers when a cocaine deal soured.

Assistant U.S. Atty. John Gordon, summing up his case in federal court in Los Angeles, told jurors that Dwight Weisner, 22, and Leo Bishop, 19, tried to kill the five officers with a Chevrolet Blazer in the parking lot of an Inglewood grocery store on March 27. With Bishop in the passenger seat, Weisner allegedly raced around the lot of the Boys Market at La Brea and Centinela avenues, trying to run the officers down, Gordon said.

Moments earlier, when one of the undercover officers agreed to buy half a pound of cocaine from the men for $4,400, backup officers converged on the men and tried to arrest them. None of the officers was hit.

Three federal Drug Enforcement Administration agents, a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy and two police officers from Hawthorne and Gardena were working with the Los Angeles Street Gang Drug Task Force when the incident occurred.

Bishop and Weisner were charged with nine counts of conspiracy, assault, attempted murder of law enforcement officers and attempted distribution of cocaine. Gregory Briggs, 30, of Lakewood, who set up the drug sale, pleaded guilty to narcotics charges July 24.

Defense attorneys told the jury that there was no evidence Bishop or Weisner intended to kill the officers and only conflicting evidence about their involvement in a cocaine sale.