Jury speaks: Former teacher Tim Monroe guilty of drug sale

Tim Monroe was found guilty of delivering a controlled substance within 1,000 feet of a church after a jury deliberated just under five hours.

A teary-eyed jury rendered its verdict to the crowded courtroom about 10 p.m. The verdict brought stunned silence and tears among Monroe’s supporters in the room.

The jury found Monroe, Ridgway, delivered 0.6 grams of cocaine to an undercover police officer and a confidential informant on Feb. 25, 2008 at his Longley Street residence in Harrisburg.

Monroe was charged April 10, 2008. The former Galatia High School teacher and athletic director was arrested at the high school.

Monroe, who was out on bond, was handed over to the custody of the Saline County Detention Center with revoked bond. Defense attorney Paul Christenson may put together a motion and affidavits explaining why Monroe should continue to be released on bond until his March 23 sentencing date, but Judge Ronald Eckiss said he was not prepared to allow Monroe to stay free without such arguments being presented.

“What I’ve heard so far is he made (drug) transactions after his arrest,” Eckiss said.

State’s Attorney Mike Henshaw said the case was a high priority despite the relatively small amount of cocaine that was the subject of the charge.

“If it was a one-time incident, that probably wouldn’t have happened,” Henshaw said.

“But not with all the evidence over the years that he was giving or selling cocaine.”

Evidence Monroe sold cocaine after his arrest also prompted aggressive prosecution, Henshaw said.

“Anything he could say to mitigate it seemed trivial,” Henshaw said.

Monroe’s fate was placed in the hands of the 10-woman, two-man jury at 5 p.m. after closing arguments.

Henshaw told jurors the case is relatively simple.

“We’re here to determine whether on Feb. 25, 2008, Tim Monroe sold cocaine within 1,000 feet of a church,” Henshaw said.

The defense has raised the issue of entrapment – Henshaw agreed Justin Zurliene and Carolyn McGhee put on an act to enable Monroe to sell cocaine to police.

“Was he tricked? Yep. But it’s perfectly legal,” Henshaw said.

Using confidential informants and setting up purchases is perhaps the best tool law enforcement has at its disposal, Henshaw said.

It is not entrapment if a defendant was predisposed to commit the offense and police agents merely afford him the opportunity to commit it, Henshaw said.

Henshaw pointed to cocaine sales before and after the Feb. 25 incident. Monroe sold cocaine to, or shared cocaine with, John Fricks, John Roark, former Century grade school principal Maureen Mann and a waitress in Norris City, Henshaw said.

“That clearly showed that he was predisposed to sell these drugs,” Henshaw said.
Monroe and his attorneys tried to make the case that the police,  “And myself, I suppose,” were out to get him, Henshaw said.

“All through this case they have tried to portray me as a corrupt prosecutor. What evidence do they have? None,” Henshaw said.

Illinois State Trooper Scott Isaacs may have had it out for Monroe, testimony indicated.

“He’s not even in that (investigative) division,” Henshaw said.

Defense attorney Paul Christenson said there is more to the story than a simple drug deal. The evidence clearly points to entrapment.

“There are definitely two sides to this story,” Christenson said.

Monroe was induced by Carolyn McGhee to deliver cocaine, Christenson said. She arranged the deals and brought Zurliene along on the purchases.

“Whose idea was it, that’s what it comes to,” Christenson said.

Monroe did not have a driver’s license at the time, which McGhee knew. That’s why she set up the deal at Monroe’s residence at 822 Longley St. – it’s close to a church and makes the penalty higher, Christenson said.

The rebuttal case of the prosecution was completed early Thursday afternoon and Monroe briefly took the stand a second time in the defense effort to promote an entrapment defense.

Earlier Thursday, jurors heard a tape recording of a prior cocaine deal conducted among Monroe, Zurliene and McGhee.

By using the recording of the second deal,  Henshaw and assistant Jason Olson were putting on evidence to rebut the issue of entrapment, which was raised by the defense in its case.

Judge Ronald Eckiss ruled the tape, which includes a deal for one gram of cocaine on Feb. 19, 2008, is relevant to the state’s case, since prosecutors became burdened by Christenson with proving Monroe was not entrapped into making drug sales to Zurliene and McGhee.

“I agree there’s damning evidence on the tape for the defense,” Eckiss said, out of the presence of the jury.

But the tape shows the defendant setting up a larger cocaine purchase and talking about where he could get drugs, Eckiss said.

“That goes directly to the defense of entrapment in this case,” Eckiss said in explaining his ruling.

The second tape would not have been admissible if entrapment had not been raised as an issue by the defense, Eckiss said.

Undercover agent Zurliene then was called back to the stand to testify and told jurors the tape depicted a drug deal on Feb. 19, 2008, which was before the Feb. 25, 2008 deal that was the subject of the trial.