A bogus pawn shop operated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives targeted black males during a months-long firearms sting operation that was racially motivated, a defense attorney claimed in a court filing seeking to dismiss charges against his client.
But the government in its own filing Friday denied that investigators and prosecutors were motivated by “impermissible considerations” or bad faith. Prosecutors urged U.S. District Judge Monti Belot to reject the defense request for an evidentiary hearing.
The legal dustup comes in the case of Chico Davis, who faces a 20-count indictment that includes multiple charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm as well as charges of methamphetamine, marijuana and crack cocaine distribution. Davis is among at least 51 people arrested in an undercover operation at the ATF’s Bandit Trading pawn shop.
Defense attorney E. Jay Greeno asked the court to consolidate all the federal cases stemming from the sting operation wherein defense attorneys have filed similar motions to dismiss charges based on enforcement and prosecution that are selective.
At least 43 of the defendants in the pawn shop case are black, according to Greeno. Four others are white, while the racial makeup of 4 defendants is unknown.
“Without question, the selection of the items in this undercover pawn shop were chosen to entice, and pander to the young African American male community,” Greeno wrote to the court. “This pandering included the type of apparel and shoe choices, as well as a set of tire ‘rims.’”
ATF agents went next door to a primarily black barbershop and delivered a bottle of Hennessy Cognac as a “welcome-to-the-neighborhood” gift, according to the court filing.
“The racial overtones of such a gesture are not lost on the defendants or defense counsel,” Greeno wrote in his filing last week.
In a supplemental filing Friday that cited 2010 Census Bureau statistics, Greeno argued that while 31% of the population in the partial tract near the ATF pawn shop was black, about 91% of the defendants facing federal charges in the sting operation were black. The defense is challenging the ATF’s decision to choose a neighborhood with a high concentration of blacks, as well as the selection of those it then decided to charge.
In its reply, the government asked the court to find that the defendant did not meet his legal burden to demonstrate that he was singled out for investigation or prosecution while others in a similar situation of a different race were not singled out.
“Moreover, the defendant cannot prove ‘impermissible considerations’ or bad faith because this is a false allegation, unlike the criminal charges currently pending against him,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Debra Barnett wrote in her response filing.
Barnett argued that the motion should be rejected without an evidentiary hearing because the defense has no proof or good-faith basis for accusing investigators and prosecutors of a racially motivated investigation and prosecution.
She further discounted that the items offered for sale in the ATF pawn shop were chosen to entice young black males, noting that the defendant “conveniently fails to mention” that the business also sold DVD players, CDs, women’s apparel and curling irons.
“Ironically, the defendant’s accusatory arguments presume racial stereotypes unflattering to African American men,” Barnett wrote.
The government also argued that the defense’s characterization of the gift of a bottle of cognac to another business owner intentionally misstated the evidence and the gesture, which is captured on audio and video recordings.
“This encounter did not have ‘racial overtones,’” Barnett wrote. “The defendant’s allegation to the contrary is nothing more than an attempt to in