Drug Case Cited in Bush Speech Ends in Mistrial
A federal judge on Thursday declared a mistrial after jurors failed to reach a verdict in the case of a teen-ager accused of selling the cocaine that President Bush used as a prop in a nationally televised address on drugs in September.
U.S. District Judge Stanley Sporkin scheduled a new trial on Jan. 8 in the case of Keith Jackson, who is accused of selling cocaine to an undercover agent in Lafayette Park across the street from the White House.
Jackson, 18, is also accused of distributing crack at a mall and twice near a high school.
The transactions allegedly took place starting last April 24 and ending Sept. 1 with the sale in Lafayette Park.
“We the jury cannot agree on any of the charges,” the 12 jurors said in a note to Sporkin.
In preparing for Bush’s Sept. 5 speech about the war on drugs, aides decided to have the President hold up a bag of crack, and arrangements were made to have a drug purchase near the White House.
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