Oak Ridge man convicted of attempting to make methamphetamine

Cape Girardeau County prosecutors were jubilant Wednesday after winning a drug trial that ended with the jury recommending a 10-year sentence for Paul P. Hitt for attempting to manufacture methamphetamine. But Hitt's defense attorney, Stephen Wilson, says the jury convicted the wrong man for a crime he didn't commit.

The one-day trial for Hitt, 51, of Oak Ridge, was held in the Common Pleas Courthouse in Cape Girardeau with Associate Circuit Judge Peter Statler presiding. The jury deliberated 90 minutes before issuing a guilty verdict and making its recommendation.

Assistant prosecuting attorneys Ian Sutherland and Teresa Bright-Pearson called three witnesses.

"The 10-year sentence is a strong statement by this jury that the manufacture of methamphetamine will not be tolerated in this county," Sutherland said after the verdict.

Wilson intends to file a motion for a new trial and to challenge the jury's verdict.

"There was an absolute deficiency of evidence in this case to uphold that verdict," Wilson said. "One man is being held responsible for what another man did. Mr. Hitt has never been in any kind of trouble before."

Van was stopped

Hitt was arrested July 13, 2002, after his van was stopped by trooper Douglas McDaniel of the Missouri State Highway Patrol because it did not have lights on an attached trailer.

McDaniel saw a large package thrown out of the front passenger window by Arlen B. Brown of Marble Hill, he testified. McDaniel found the package and discovered it was a full and complete meth lab. He then found in the back of the van a battery-powered lighting system.

Mike Alford, an investigator with the SEMO Drug Task Force, testified the lab contained "first step" methamphetamine, consisting of pseudoephedrine soaking in a solvent in five mason jars. The only stage left in the process was to reduce it to a powder.

He said the setup of lights, cables and a battery system is commonly used by meth makers to illuminate an area in the woods where they are making the drug at night.

Discounted evidence

Wilson discounted the description of the lighting and other evidence offered by the state.

"He had a spotlight and a battery in the back of his van that anyone might have for going fishing at night," Wilson said. "They took a Pepsi can out of the van, too, because it had a 'clear liquid' in it, and that turned out to be water. They wasted the taxpayers' dollars with that."

Wilson said his client had no intention of making the drug.

"The trailer he was pulling had a load of gravel on it," Wilson said. "You don't go out to make meth somewhere pulling a load of gravel behind you."

Alford said the odor of ether and anhydrous ammonia used were very noticeable, even though the jars were sealed. A forensic chemist with the patrol's crime laboratory, David Nanneman, testified about the chemical composition of the samples Alford took from the jars.

The defendant chose not to take the stand and his attorney offered no witnesses.

Statler set Hitt's sentencing for Feb. 21 at the county courthouse in Jackson.

"The judges in this county almost always follow the recommendation of a jury," Sutherland said. "Paul Hitt should bring a toothbrush when he comes for sentencing."

Brown, who also was charged with attempted manufacturing of methamphetamine, is being prosecuted in Ste. Genevieve County on a change of venue. He received probation in August 2001 on a Perry County conviction for possession of a controlled substance. He is scheduled for a probation violation hearing today.

mwells@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 160