Jury Verdict Set Aside On Potato As Weapon

Hartford Courant ^ | Sep 11 2001 | MARK PAZNIOKAS

[2Trievers]

Luckily for Alpha McQueen, U.S. District Chief Judge Alfred V. Covello concluded Monday in Hartford that the drug dealer threatened three women in January 1998 with only a loaded gun - not an uncooked potato.

Covello set aside a first-of-its-kind jury verdict that McQueen and an accomplice, Dale Stewart, used a potato as a silencer to threaten the women during a tense interrogation over $30,000 in missing drug money.

[2Trievers]

"McQueen later used the same gun to threaten the women, but not with the potato."

Oh well, that makes all the difference ... judge, let him go.