Asst. US Attorney Jonathan Luna found dead in Lancaster, PA (murdered)

FOX News | 4 Dec 2003 | FOX News

[July 4th]

Prosecutor didn't show up for the 4th day of a trial involving rap artists dealing drugs from their studio.

[July 4th]

Think O'Reilly's been tough on rap artists lately? Just wait...

[yonif]

bttt

[July 4th]

Body found in a ditch.

[Onelifetogive]

Prosecutor didn't show up for the 4th day of a trial involving rap artists dealing drugs from their studio.

It's possible...I know I'm jumping the gun here...but it is actually possible....that the Clintons DIDN'T order this hit.

[watchwoman]

Lancaster, PA, eh? ...those naughty Amish rappers!

[WinOne4TheGipper]

What's the likelihood of that?;-)

[Gunslingr3]

Maybe the Feds can come away from busting 55 year old Hell's Angels long enough to go after the real criminals....ooops... Wrong color....caint touch dis

That's funny. What color do you think most people in prison are?

[witnesstothefall]

Trial begins for rap artist charged in city drug ring
Business based in studio in Hampden, authorities say

---

By Gail Gibson
Sun Staff
Originally published December 2, 2003



The defense attorney for an aspiring Baltimore rap artist standing trial on federal drug conspiracy charges looked at the jury box during opening statements yesterday and said he had one concern: The panel might be too white to understand his client's story.
Attorney Kenneth W. Ravenell said he was confident that the mostly Caucasian jury would not weigh race in reaching a verdict in the case against local rapper Deon Lionnel Smith and his one-time associate, Walter Oriley Poindexter. But, Ravenell said, "You may have to struggle to understand where they were coming from."

"I suspect that what a lot of you know about rap music is what you hear on the radio or see on the TV, and a lot of that's not good," Ravenell told jurors in U.S. District Court in Baltimore. "But Mr. Smith isn't on trial for being part of the rap industry."

Federal authorities charged Smith, 32, and Poindexter, 28, this year with heroin distribution and conspiracy. They are accused of running a violent drug ring, in part from the recording studio they operated on West 36th Street in Hampden under the name Stash House Records.

The label, with Smith recording under the stage name Papi Jenkinz, had some small successes with individual songs and had pinned its hopes on the release of a compilation CD titled Gumbo. But the business closed in the spring after Smith's arrest.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan P. Luna described Smith as a supplier for a highly organized drug ring that was run by Poindexter and sold heroin in the Northwest Baltimore neighborhoods of Pimlico and Park Heights under the street name "9-1-1."

A former associate of Poindexter and Smith, Warren Grace, testified yesterday that he sold drugs for the group, and said the drug's street name had a practical application:

"Once [users] hit it, they were going to need 9-1-1 - they were going to have to call an ambulance," said Grace, who is expected to be a central witness in the government's case.

After investigators found drugs and two handguns in Grace's Baltimore home in April last year, he agreed to cooperate with Baltimore police and the FBI. Wearing a body wire, he secretly recorded several conversations later that year with Smith and Poindexter. Luna said the jury would hear those recordings during the trial.

Attorneys for Smith and Poindexter sought in their opening statements to portray Grace as a lying ex-con and untrustworthy witness. Ravenell said that as Smith tried to build a legitimate career in the music business, his fatal mistake was that he failed to cut his ties with criminal associates from his past - most notably, Grace.

"Mr. Smith was a man who cared about bringing others along," Ravenell said, explaining to jurors Smith's vision of a thriving, upstart rap business based in the heart of Baltimore. "This was a working business - people trying to make it."

[alisasny]

I had to laugh when the reporter said suspected murder... I always end up in a ditch dead on my own free will.

RAP has got to go.

[Dog]

Whoa!

[icwhatudo]

Is this the Gore/rap drug pardon guy?

[Britton J Wingfield]

Wrong color....caint touch dis

If that's true, then why is a prosecutor involved?

[July 4th]

Rap "artists" are anything but. Most are on the doorstep of federal prison for the length of their existence. Hopefully this will shed some light on the garbage that they deal.

[July 4th]

Thanks for the article - I had heard nothing about the trial.

[witnesstothefall]

Gang known be armed and dangerous.



Leaders of rap label to stand trial today
Duo accused of using studio as front in drug ring

---

By Gail Gibson
Sun Staff
Originally published December 1, 2003



Two Baltimore men who tried to make it big in the rap music industry through their upstart label Stash House Records are scheduled to stand trial today on federal charges that they ran a violent drug ring, in part from their Hampden recording studio.
Deon Lionnel Smith, 32, and Walter Oriley Poindexter, 28, were charged in July in U.S. District Court in Baltimore with heroin distribution and conspiracy. Both men have pleaded not guilty, and their lawyers have rejected suggestions that the music business was a front for illegal drug trafficking.

Instead, defense attorneys are expected to argue that the men face a predicament familiar to other figures in the rap industry, where stars who rise up from crime-ridden streets often find themselves tainted by friends and associates from their former lifestyle.

In an earlier interview with the hip-hop magazine Don Diva, Smith described himself as the owner of the recording label and discussed turning to the music business as a fast and legitimate path to riches.

Court papers described Smith and Poindexter, a vice president in the recording business, as also cashing in from a bullying, armed heroin business that operated from various locations, including the now-closed studio on West 36th Street in Hampden, and addresses in the 3600 block of Spaulding Ave. in Pimlico and the first block of Wellspring Circle in Owings Mills, Poindexter's last address.

On the street, court records say, Poindexter sold the group's heroin under the name "9-11" and was willing to use violence to protect turf and maintain loyalty within the group. Authorities alleged that Poindexter, also known by the nickname "Fella," shot and killed Alvin "L" Jones on Jan. 22, 2001, because Poindexter believed that Jones had burglarized one of the drug group's stash houses.

The jury in this week's trial is not expected to hear evidence of that slaying. It could be weighed as a factor at sentencing, if the men are convicted.

[WinOne4TheGipper]

Multiple stab and gunshot wounds. You know what that means, right? Suicide.

[show me state]

Thursday, December 4, 2003 3:00PM EST

Authorities search for missing federal prosecutor


By BRIAN WITTE, ASSOCIATED PRESS

BALTIMORE (AP) - Authorities searched for a federal prosecutor who failed to show up at court Thursday for the drug trial of a rap artist and one of his former associates, an FBI spokesman said.

Authorities would not comment on the possibility that foul play may have been involved in the disappearance of Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan P. Luna.
"We were notified this morning of his disappearance and we immediately responded to the U.S. Attorney's office and began coordinating efforts with the local police and the U.S. Marshals Service to try to determine his whereabouts," FBI spokesman Barry Maddox said.

Luna is trying the case of Baltimore rapper Deon Lionnel Smith, 32, and his one-time associate Walter Oriley Poindexter, 28. The two men are accused of heroin distribution and running a violent drug ring in part from their Stash House Records studio. Their trial began Monday.

Luna has also tried the case of a man who videotaped a neighbor child as she slept in her home. He also handled the case against a man who plotted to burn down a home to force six Mexican men out of a neighborhood. The defendants in both cases entered guilty pleas.

http://newsobserver.com/24hour/nation/story/1078998p-7535920c.html

[CommandoFrank]

that the Clintons DIDN'T order this hit.

My first thought and the main reason I came to this thread was because I wondered about any Clinton connection...

Funny but tragic...

[show me state]

Prosecutor in Drug Case Found Dead Body Found After He Failed to Show Up for Trial of Rap Artist


Nov. 4

A federal prosecutor who failed to show up in court for the trial of a rap artist has been found dead, sources told ABCNEWS.



Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan P. Luna was trying the case of Baltimore-based rapper Deon Lionnel Smith and his onetime associate Walter Oriley Poindexter, who are accused of heroin distribution and running a violent drug ring in part from their Stash House Records studio. The circumstances of Luna's death are unclear but sources said he was found alongside a road in Lancaster, Pa.

"We were notified this morning of his disappearance and we immediately responded to the U.S. Attorney's office and began coordinating efforts with the local police and the U.S. Marshals Service to try to determine his whereabouts," FBI spokesman Barry Maddox told the Associated Press.

Sources said Luna may have died from a gunshot wound.

ABCNEWS' Pierre Thomas contributed to this report.

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/WorldNewsTonight/missing_lawyer031204.html