Fired Fort Worth officer acquitted in theft case

A Tarrant County jury on Friday acquitted a fired Fort Worth police supervisor accused of stealing four pairs of Nike sneakers and a Grand Theft Auto 5 video game from a drug dealer.

“I’m satisfied with the outcome,” said Antoine Jevon Williams, a former sergeant who supervised a narcotics unit.

“I now have closure and I can move on with my life. My name was dragged through the mud by people I thought I could trust. People I had lunch with tried to prosecute me. Not only did you fire me but you tried to ruin my life.”

Jurors deliberated more than five hours over two days before returning the verdict.

“We appreciate the careful attention the jury paid to the evidence,” said prosecutor Tim Bednarz, who worked the case with Rebecca McIntire.

“It was a serious matter, and we believe they took it seriously and gave it careful consideration.”

Williams, 38, was indicted March 28 on a charge of theft of $500 to $1,500. Penalties for the charge were enhanced to a state jail felony because Williams was a public servant.

Had he been convicted, Williams could have been sentenced to two years in a state jail and fined $10,000.

On Oct. 16, 2013, Williams supervised the search of an east Fort Worth residence in the 4800 block of Richardson Street where street-level drug dealer Marquis Green lived with his grandmother and girlfriend.

Police mainly seized electronics and more than $1,000 in cash from the residence.

After photographing evidence at Green’s house, Williams went to a planned drug buy that never occurred because that dealer didn’t show up, according to police testimony. Williams did not finish working until 1 or 2 a.m. Oct. 17, according to his wife’s testimony.

Later that day, he was interviewed by detectives investigating a complaint made by an officer who had participated in the search of Green’s house. Williams acknowledged having the items but said his failure to log them in was just “a dumb mistake.”

During closing arguments in state District Judge Mollee Westfall’s court, Bednarz told the jury that the question of intent would be the deciding factor. Williams could have easily had the officer who was taking inventory of the seized items log the shoes and video game, Bednarz said.

Williams also could have dropped the items at the police property room before his shift ended that morning or while he was on his way to be interviewed by the detectives investigating the complaint, Bednarz said.

Police have the power to seize property from drug dealers if they have a reasonable belief that it was bought with money made illegally, but there is a process that must be adhered to, Bednarz said

With their verdict, the jurors needed to say whether they want police to have the power to come into a man’s house, pick through his things and take what they want, Bednarz said.

“If that’s how you want your tax dollars spent, that’s fine,” Bednarz said. “But I’m here to tell you that you are wrong. The 12 of you can police the police.”

Williams’ attorneys called a current police sergeant to testify Thursday that narcotics officers often took things from drug dealers that they didn’t log in immediately. It’s a policy violation that might be punished internally, but it isn’t considered a crime, Fort Worth police Sgt. Kevin Fitchett testified.

“Officers would take things during the execution of a search warrant for props,” Fitchett said. “Those would not always be put on the inventory.”

The props were typically used during undercover operations to make officers look more like the criminal element they were trying to infiltrate, Fitchett said.

Officers also sometimes “took trophies, something that the drug dealer was proud of,” Fitchett said. “Long as it was on the warrant, we never thought of it as stealing.”

During her closing argument Thursday, defense attorney Terri Moore said the trial was a waste of resources. The team that Williams supervised was young and inexperienced, and it showed, Moore said.

“I’m a criminal defense lawyer, folks,” Moore said. “I’m supposed to be defending the Marquis Greens of the world — not a police officer trying to do his job.”

This story was originally published October 31, 2014 at 4:32 PM with the headline "Fired Fort Worth officer acquitted in theft case."