Springfield police detective Paul Carpenter must
reveal the name of an informant whose weekly tips led to “numerous
arrests and convictions” over the past two years, according to an
order entered Monday by Robert Eggers, chief judge of the Sangamon County
Circuit Court. Carpenter and his former partner, Detective Jim
Graham, are on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of an Illinois
State Police investigation into allegations of misconduct. Before being
placed on leave, Carpenter and Graham had worked in SPD’s major-case
unit, the squad assigned to investigate homicides and other serious crimes.
Monday’s ruling came in a comparatively minor
case — the Feb. 15, 2005 drive-by shooting at a house on East Cedar
Street in which no one was injured. Police arrested Ryan Roberson and his
half-brothers, Micah and Stanley Morgan, but subsequently dismissed charges
against Roberson. The Morgans face felony charges of aggravated discharge
of a firearm. The day after the shooting, Carpenter requested a
warrant to search Micah Morgan’s home, citing a tip from a
“very reliable” informant. In a motion filed last month, Micah
Morgan accused Carpenter of being “less than truthful” in this
affidavit and asked the court to compel Carpenter to disclose the identity
of the informant and a list of cases this informant had helped solve. Angela Fyans, assistant corporation counsel assigned
to SPD, told Eggers on Monday that she didn’t realize she had to
produce the informant’s name but said that officials were gathering
reports involving this informant. Documents identifying the informant will
be given to the judge for an “in camera” review rather than
being handed to the Morgans’ defense attorney, Bruce Locher. Fyans said the city would not be able to produce a
case file on the informant because he was never paid for his tips.
“And that’s typical,” she told the court. “If the
informant wasn’t paid, there’s no file.” However, SPD’s policy on confidential sources
defines informants as “paid or unpaid” and requires officers to
keep a file listing names, aliases, criminal history, associates, phone
numbers, addresses and other information on all confidential sources. The
detectives’ habit of not documenting informants has been called into
question in a lawsuit filed by another former officer, Ron Vose, who was
supervisor of SPD’s narcotics unit. Vose resigned earlier this year
after submitting a 20-page memo accusing Carpenter and Graham of
misconduct. That memo formed the basis of the ongoing ISP probe. Fyans did not answer phone and e-mail messages seeking
comment for this article. At Monday’s hearing, Locher also asked why a
videotape entered into evidence by Carpenter has no accompanying written
report and no audible sound. The tape shows a woman named Amy Brown
apparently being questioned by Carpenter and another detective. Locher told
Eggers that he believes that Brown is connected to a gun purportedly found
in Morgan’s house, because records show that the weapon was purchased
by Amy Brown’s husband, Sean Brown. However, the gun had never been
reported stolen or sold, and it didn’t have Morgan’s
fingerprints on it. “The plot sickens a little more,” Locher
said, as he held the videotape up in court. “The plot what?” Eggers asked. “The plot sickens — I mean,
thickens!” Locher replied.
This article appears in May 4-10, 2006.
