Citizens Show Support as Lawmen Go on trial in Kidnap-Torture Plot
About 20 people wearing blue ribbons stood outside court Tuesday in support of two lawmen as they went on trial on charges of plotting to kidnap a suspected drug dealer and torture him with a hot curling iron.
Sheriff Wesley Liddell Jr. of Love County, Okla., and his son-in-law, Marietta, Okla., police Officer Roger Ray Hilton, are accused of conspiracy and interstate travel to commit violence.
FBI agents arrested them in May, charging that they plotted to abduct the alleged dealer from Texas to get information about drug lab locations in Oklahoma. No kidnaping took place.
Many residents were outraged by the arrests and held a $50-a-plate fund raiser for the officers’ legal expenses. The defendants did not confront their supporters Tuesday and were taken into the courthouse through another door.
9 Hours of Tapes
Federal prosecutors planned to offer nine hours of conversations secretly taped by a Marietta police officer. Defense attorney Darryl Roberts said the accuracy of the transcripts will be at issue during the trial.
“I think when this case is over, you will be disappointed in our federal agents,” he said.
The case is being tried in Sherman because it has the closet federal court to Marietta, which is on the Texas state line.
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