CAMDEN, N.J. (AP) -- The stepfather of Cleveland Cavaliers guard Dajuan Wagner was not a drug dealer, but a man with a penchant for gambling who bought guns to protect his family, his lawyer told a federal jury Tuesday.
Leonard "Pooh" Paulk and three other men are on trial on charges they were part of a broad drug-dealing conspiracy in Camden between 2000 and 2003. Ten other men charged in the alleged ring last year have pleaded guilty, and some of them testified against Paulk and the others.The case involved a mother called to discredit the testimony of her son, stories of a man firing shots at his cousin and a heist of as much as 50 kilograms of cocaine. The case was expected to go to the jury no earlier than Wednesday.
In closing arguments Monday and Tuesday, a government lawyer told jurors that Paulk was at the center of the ring and told dealers at which airports, restaurants and highway rest stops they could meet suppliers.
"Leonard Paulk was like a CEO or chess master moving pieces around the table," Assistant United States Attorney Jason Richardson told jurors.
Paulk, who spent time in the 1990s in prison after a drug-dealing conviction, was charged with conspiracy to sell drugs and money laundering, but not with any crimes relating to buying guns.But part of the government's case against him revolved around his efforts in early 2002 to buy 20 guns.
He was willing to supply Jose Perez, a government informant, with cocaine in exchange for getting those guns, prosecutors said.
Paulk's lawyer, Dennis J. Cogan, said the deal never happened because the government informant was not going to provide the weapons and because Paulk was not willing to follow through on his promise to provide drugs.
Paulk's lawyer said his client, who did not testify, did not want to return to his old drug-dealing life.
"Who Leonard Paulk was in the past, he no longer is," Cogan said.But as a convicted felon, he could not legally buy weapons. So when the deal with Perez didn't happen, Paulk eventually obtained the weapons elsewhere.
Richardson said Paulk wanted the weapons to settle an old score with another man.
But Cogan said there is a good reason why Paulk sought the weapons: because Paulk had heard of a plot to kidnap Wagner and his mother -- Paulk's wife, Lisa Paulk -- and to rape her.
At the time, Wagner was at The University of Memphis and was within a few months of declaring his intent to enter the NBA draft, a move that soon made him a millionaire.
Lisa Paulk and Leonard Paulk's sister both testified during the eight-week trial that they had heard of the plot and that an incarcerated drug dealer was behind it.
In his closing arguments Tuesday, Cogan reminded jurors that he did not have proof that a plot existed. But he did say Paulk's reaction when he heard about it was important.
Lisa Paulk said her husband was "hysterical" about the possibility of a kidnapping.
Other government evidence showed that Paulk often made cash purchases of big-ticket items such as furniture, a car and a motorcycle even though he and his wife reported a total income of only around $20,000 a year.
"The money does not make sense," Richardson said. "The extra money was coming from drug-dealing."
Cogan said Paulk made money selling real estate for cash and by gambling -- both in casinos and on the street -- and did not report his transactions, partly to evade taxes.
