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Missing evidence prompts prosecutors to drop all charges against alleged drug dealer
By Paul Van Osdol
Missing evidence prompts prosecutors to drop all charges against alleged drug dealer
STARTS RIGHT NOW. >> A MAN ACCUSED OF DEALING DRUGS ARRESTED AFTER POLICE SAY FENTANYL WAS FOUND NEAR HIS CHILD’S TOYS. IS NO LONGER FACING CHARGES. MIKE C.: HE WALKED FREE ALL BECAUSE OF MISSING EVIDENCE. GOOD EVENING. JANELL OE:UR INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER JOINS US. WHAT HAPPENED HERE? PAUL: POLICE SAID IN A SWORN AFFIDAVIT THEY IZSEED CELL PHONES FROM THE ALLEGED DRUG DEALER BUT IT TURNS OUT THOSE PHONES WERE NEVER ACTUALLY KETAN INTO EVIDENCE. PROSECUTORS SAY THEY HAD NO CHOICE BUT TO DROP CHARGES THE VERY DAY A JURY WAS SELECTED AT THE ALLEGHENY COUNTY COURTHOUSE. >> IT’S VERY UPSETTING, IT IS DE VASTATING. HE WAS MY ONLY SIBLING. PAUL: SHARON’S BROTHER GARY DIED TWO YEARS FROM AN OVERDOSE. POLICE BEGAN INVESTIGATING DAN KENDRICK FOR MAKING UNDERCOVER DRUG BUYS. LAST YEAR, POLICE RAIDED HIS HOME FINDING FENTANYL NEAR HIS CHILDREN’S TOYS. POLICE SAY TYHE RECOVER SIX CELL PHONES AND WHEN THE CASE WENT TO TRIAL, PROSECUTORS REALIZED THE ONESPH WERE NEVER TAKEN INTO EVIDENCE. SO ALL CHARGES WERE DROPP.ED D.A. SAID "THE MISSING EVIDENCE IN COMBINATION WITH THE LKAC OF A PREVIOUSLY DOCUMENTED EXPLANATION FOR THE EVIDENCE, NOT BEING IN POSSESSION, DESPITE A SWORN AFFIDAVIT DIRECTLY LED TO THE WITHDRAWAL OF CHARGES." >> I DON’T FEEL JUSTICE WAS SERVED. MY FAMILY WAS DEVASTATED AND OTHER PEOPLE’S FAMILIES. THIS PERSON IS FREE TO GO HOME TO TWO LITTLE KSID AND DEVASTATE THEIR LIVES, TOO. IT FEELS LIKE A TRAVESTY OF JUSTICE. PA:UL ACTION NEWS CAUGHT UP WITH KENDRICK AND ASKED HIM ABOUT THE MISSING EVIDENCE. DO YOU KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THAT? >> WHAT EVIDENCE? THEY HAD OLD PHONES. THEY HAD NOTHING. HELL NO. I DON’T SELL DRUGS. PAUL: THE POLICE CHIEF THAT HANDLED THE REST SAID HIS OFFICERS HAD ALL THE DRUGS AND CASH EVIDENCE THEY NEEDED. BUT THE CHEIEF TELLS ME MY GUYS DID NOT TAKE SOME EVIDENCE THAT THEY SHOULD HAVE. THEY SHOULD HAVE CONFISCATED THOSE PHONES. A PITT LAW PROFESSOR SAYS MAINTAINING SO-CALLED CHAIN OF CUSTODY IS CTIRICAL FOR ANY CRIMINAL CASE BUT ESPECIALLY WHEN DRUGS ARE INVOLVED. >> WHEN A CHAIN OF CUSTODY IS OKBREN, INTRODUCES A S OETF DOUBTS INTO THE WHOLE PROCESS. >> I’M NOT A LAWYER. I JUST KNOW THAT WHAT FEELS RIGHT AND WRONG, THIS FEELS VERY WRONG AND THERE IS SO MUCH EVIDENCE THAT DOES EXIST. HOW NOTHING COULD STICK, NO CHARGE. PAUL: A SPOKESPERSON FORHE T D.A. TELLS ME THEY WERE UNABLE TO PROCEED WITH A CASE AGAINST KENDRICK FOR QUOTE " ETHICAL REASONS." MIKE C.: THERE WAS EVIDENCE IN THIS CASE BUT WAS THERE ANY DISCIPLINARY ACTION TAKEN AGAINST THE OFFICERS INVOLVED PAUL: NO, THERE WASN’T, BUTHE T POLICE CHIEF TELLS ME THEY HAVE CHANGE THEIR PROCEDURES FOR HA
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Missing evidence prompts prosecutors to drop all charges against alleged drug dealer
By Paul Van Osdol
Prosecutors have dropped all charges against an alleged drug dealer after a mixup involving evidence against him.That’s angering the sister of a man whose overdose death helped spark the case.“It's very upsetting, it's devastating. He's my only sibling,” said Sharon Jonas, whose brother Gary Grubbs died two years ago from an overdose.After his death police began investigating Dann Kendrick, making undercover drug buys at Kendrick's Pittsburgh home and other locations, according to a criminal complaint.Last year police raided Kendrick's home, finding fentanyl near his children's toys.Police said they also recovered six cellphones but when the case went to trial, prosecutors realized the phones were never taken into evidence. The day a jury was selected, all charges were dropped.In an email to Jonas, Allegheny County Deputy District Attorney Brian Catanzarite said, "The missing evidence in combination with the lack of a previously documented explanation for the evidence not being in possession despite a sworn affidavit given under oath directly led to the withdrawal of charges."Mike Manko, a spokesman for Allegheny County District Attorney Steven Zappala, said that “due to information received after jury selection had been completed, we determined we could not ethically proceed with the case.”“I don't feel justice was served, My family was devastated and probably other people's families and this person is free to go home to two little kids and maybe devastate their lives too. It just feels like a travesty of justice,” Jonas said.News cameras caught up with Kendrick and asked him about the missing evidence.“They had old phones. They didn't have any evidence. They had nothing,” Kendrick said.He also denied selling drugs.The police chief in Reserve Township, Pennsylvania, which handled the arrest, said his officers had all the drug and cash evidence they needed."My guys didn't take some evidence that they should have. They should have confiscated those phones," Chief James Etherington said.He said no disciplinary action was taken against any officers, but the department has corrected its procedures for handling evidence.University of Pittsburgh law professor David Harris said maintaining a so-called chain of custody is critical for any criminal case but especially when drugs are involved.“When the chain of custody is broken it introduces a set of doubts into the whole process,” Harris said.“I'm not a lawyer, I just know what feels right and wrong and this feels very wrong when so much evidence does exist, how nothing could stick, no charge,” Jonas said.
PITTSBURGH —

Prosecutors have dropped all charges against an alleged drug dealer after a mixup involving evidence against him.

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That’s angering the sister of a man whose overdose death helped spark the case.

“It's very upsetting, it's devastating. He's my only sibling,” said Sharon Jonas, whose brother Gary Grubbs died two years ago from an overdose.

After his death police began investigating Dann Kendrick, making undercover drug buys at Kendrick's Pittsburgh home and other locations, according to a criminal complaint.

Last year police raided Kendrick's home, finding fentanyl near his children's toys.
Police said they also recovered six cellphones but when the case went to trial, prosecutors realized the phones were never taken into evidence. The day a jury was selected, all charges were dropped.

In an email to Jonas, Allegheny County Deputy District Attorney Brian Catanzarite said, "The missing evidence in combination with the lack of a previously documented explanation for the evidence not being in possession despite a sworn affidavit given under oath directly led to the withdrawal of charges."

Mike Manko, a spokesman for Allegheny County District Attorney Steven Zappala, said that “due to information received after jury selection had been completed, we determined we could not ethically proceed with the case.”

“I don't feel justice was served, My family was devastated and probably other people's families and this person is free to go home to two little kids and maybe devastate their lives too. It just feels like a travesty of justice,” Jonas said.

News cameras caught up with Kendrick and asked him about the missing evidence.

“They had old phones. They didn't have any evidence. They had nothing,” Kendrick said.

He also denied selling drugs.

The police chief in Reserve Township, Pennsylvania, which handled the arrest, said his officers had all the drug and cash evidence they needed.

"My guys didn't take some evidence that they should have. They should have confiscated those phones," Chief James Etherington said.

He said no disciplinary action was taken against any officers, but the department has corrected its procedures for handling evidence.

University of Pittsburgh law professor David Harris said maintaining a so-called chain of custody is critical for any criminal case but especially when drugs are involved.

“When the chain of custody is broken it introduces a set of doubts into the whole process,” Harris said.

“I'm not a lawyer, I just know what feels right and wrong and this feels very wrong when so much evidence does exist, how nothing could stick, no charge,” Jonas said.