As of this report, the order on the ex-parte mega case motions of Antonio Tillmon and Cory Jackson had not been filed into the federal court record.

One person arrested in the case, Wardie Vincent Jr., has entered a plea.

In his order on the Phillips case, Howard ruled the approval of the budget is upon the conditional premise the matter will go to trial within the next 12 months and will last four weeks.

The judged acknowledged Phillips was found to be indigent and “there is extensive discovery in this multi-defendant, multi-jurisdictional case.”

To date, the order says, the government has tendered to counsel for defendant approximately 4,500

pages of discovery and approximately 220 pieces of audiovisual evidence. “Counsel for defendant

has forecast that more discovery is likely to be submitted by the government as the matter

moves towards trial.”

In the motion to seek a mega case qualification for Phillips, Kelly Greene, his attorney, states Phillips was indicted in seven counts of the 54-count indictment.

Greene noted the projected costs are best estimates based upon the discovery material from the government including the likely surge of pretrial or late-release documents.

Wrote Greene: “The undersigned, in developing theories and defenses in the case, may travel

throughout North Carolina and the adjoining states involved in the alleged conspiracy to

better understand the factual environment of the conspiracy.

“Finally, the undersigned will likely travel, at least on one occasion, to Northampton County, North Carolina, to meet with defendant in his own environment and community to better develop theories of his case.”

Regarding issues of expert assistance, Greene is exploring defendants and other mitigating factors personal to Phillips which may result in the hiring of an expert to better understand and define his personality traits. “Currently, the defense is sharing an expert funded by the public defender’s office to assist in the general development of this theory, but this may change or otherwise defendant may

require a supplemental expert in this regard.”

Additionally, Greene is considering hiring a private investigator to explore details in the discovery and in response to the defendant’s own inquires.

Tillmon

Meanwhile, Jason Brenner, Tillmon's attorney, said in his motion, “This is an extraordinarily complex case with a massive amount of discovery. This case is much more demanding and fact-intensive than any of the 13 Adam Walsh Act cases that counsel and his firm have handled, and the numerous trials in those cases, as well as many complex federal felony prosecutions.

“Counsel for co-defendants have estimated there is 240 hours of audiovisual discovery review and 4,299 pages of documentary discovery. The audiovisual discovery must be carefully viewed and heard in that the facts are quite specific to each defendant.”

Brenner is also seeking authorization for an investigator because, he wrote, his client's case differs in significant ways from many of the others. “Mr. Tillmon may have a unique defense: that he never was told or knew exactly what this scheme involved. This poses the threat of conflicts of interests with the other defendants in that there are many written statements and accounts of what the agents and other defendants told others in the case.

“It must be determined who said what to Mr. Tillmon and on what dates these things may have

been said. This may involve seeking to determine other defendants’ positions regarding potential trial testimony and their recollections that may not be reflected in discovery.”

Counsel additionally plans to locate and seek to retain an acoustics and sound engineering expert “as there are crucial recordings that supposedly involve things said to Mr. Tillmon, and that he said, and that are perhaps the only pieces of evidence that may incriminate him. These recordings appear to be low quality and perhaps dubious and must be examined by an expert to afford a full and fair

defense to Mr. Tillmon.”

Brenner also plans to consult with a psychologist and a law enforcement expert concerning the evidence and the appearance of the setting to his client on how “this scheme/operation would appear to a local law enforcement officer who had no criminal record and was recognized as a hero in his community, what is the significance in Mr. Tillmon being allegedly recruited by an intimate/friend in law enforcement who he may have trusted.”

Tillmon, Brenner wrote, was allegedly involved in only three or four operations while some other defendants appear to have been involved in many others. “There is apparently no evidence that Mr. Tillmon knew anything about most of the other defendants or was in any way involved with them prior to the final day of arrest. Essentially, he had no idea who they were or what they were doing. Counsel is reviewing and considering filing a motion to sever in part because of this.”

Evidence, Brenner states, was that information was withheld from Tillmon to entice him to join some driving trips. “The evidence suggests this friend received money herself for recruiting people and thus had an incentive to withhold information from recruits. In her statement she appears to deny telling Mr. Tillmon what the nature of the trips or operations were. Counsel has also obtained from the FBI her text messages to Mr. Tillmon that never mentioned any form of drugs, narcotics, or even vague or veiled allusions to any contraband.”

The evidence, Brenner said, suggests or supports that unlike perhaps every other defendant, Tillmon was not told about the nature of the few trips he took. “This is in part because of his alleged recruitment by a former intimate friend and in his statement given to the FBI immediately following his arrest, he consistently denied knowing about any drugs or specific contraband. Many of the other defendants’ statements appear to contain such admissions on the other hand.”

Jackson

Keith Williams, the attorney for Jackson, wrote in his motion he foresees two days of pretrial hearings in the matter. “The projected costs are counsel's best estimates based upon the discovery and investigation to date, counsel's experience, and the receipt of additional discovery material from the government.”

Williams, however, did not lay out his defense strategies, stating in the motion, it is privileged information.