Bruising testimony at narcotics officers' trial

Last week, pot dealer Jason Kennedy told a federal court jury that when a Philadelphia narcotics officer burst into his condo with a sledgehammer in 2010, he thought he was being robbed. He tackled the man to the floor, he said, and was punched in the mouth for his efforts.

"Do you like to fight?" Kennedy was asked as his testimony continued Tuesday.

He replied: "Yeah, if I'm being attacked."

And for the rest of his time on the witness stand, Kennedy, 42, did everything but throw a punch at those asking the questions to try to prove it.

The corruption trial of six members of an elite Philadelphia drug squad continued with blistering cross-examination of Kennedy - a three-hour verbal tussle that left both witness and defense counsel all but bruised and bloodied.

Voices were raised. Eyes were rolled. Sighs of exasperation were released.

At times, it became difficult to tell who was more frustrated - Kennedy, who cursed under his breath at defense efforts to question every detail of his story, or the lawyers trying to pin down his answers to simple, direct questions.

"Let me finish. You don't get to talk," lawyer Jack McMahon yelled at one point, as Kennedy moved to cut off his questioning with another explanation.

Their back and forth got so heated that U.S. District Judge Eduardo Robreno felt compelled to step in.

"You are not going to make a mockery of this trial," he later was heard telling McMahon during a private conversation at the bench. Throughout, the judge jabbed his finger in the lawyer's direction.

The conflict centered on the story Kennedy told jurors last week.

He testified Thursday that Officer Michael Spicer burst through the door of his North Front Street condo in February 2010, punched him in the mouth, knocked out one of his teeth, and then threatened to toss him from a third-floor balcony. Meanwhile, other members of the drug squad, he said, seized $210,000 from his residence - though they only reported taking just over $130,000 in cash.

His story augmented a prosecution narrative about Spicer and his colleagues. Prosecutors have alleged that he, along with Officers Thomas Liciardello, Brian Reynolds, Perry Betts, Linwood Norman, and John Speiser, conducted their jobs with gang-like tactics, beating up drug suspects, stealing their money, and falsifying police reports to cover up their thefts.

The defense team arrived for Kennedy's cross-examination, however, prepared for what one member would later describe as "a bloodbath."

They challenged him on the varying stories he gave regarding his injuries. He told a grand jury last year that Spicer's punch during their tussle had knocked out a tooth and left him bleeding from the mouth.

Why then, asked McMahon, did he later report on a jail booking form, signed hours after his arrest, that he was not bleeding at the time and had no police-related injuries? The lawyer also confronted Kennedy with his mug shot - a photo that showed no blood or visible swelling around his mouth.

"That picture looks like you're going to the prom," McMahon quipped.

Kennedy said he did tell jail officials he was bleeding from the gums but downplayed his injuries so he could wait to seek help upon his release. (His dentist, who also testified Tuesday, said Kennedy had all his teeth when he came for a later appointment, though one was severely cracked and had to be removed.)

"Have you ever been to the Roundhouse?" Kennedy shot back from the stand, referring to Police Headquarters. "You wouldn't want to get medical attention there, either."

Others questioned Kennedy's statement that he had left the drug business after that 2010 arrest. Why then, asked defense lawyer Jeffrey Miller, had he been cooperating with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in an ongoing investigation as late as December 2013?

And when it came to Kennedy's contention that his encounter with the narcotics squad left him suicidal and suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, the defense team never let up - pointing over and over to mental health records documenting Kennedy's statements to therapists that he had been subjected to "mind control" and that two Mafia families and a Mexican drug cartel were out to kill him.

As James Binns, lawyer for Spicer, asked again about discrepancies in his story that Kennedy had already addressed, the witness finally cracked.

"You must be hard of hearing," Kennedy said. Later, he could be heard muttering, perhaps to Spicer, "You need a new lawyer."

Testimony is set to resume Wednesday.

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