Former students testify in Wells trial

Two IU graduates who witnessed the arrest of Monroe County Councilman Scott Wells took the stand at his trial Thursday and refuted the state police account of the incident.\nWells, a Democrat, has insisted since his arrest he was set up and assaulted by state police in a politically-motivated scheme.\nThe incident began when Bud Bernitt, a political rival of Wells, called off-duty state trooper and then-Republican sheriff candidate J.D. Maxwell. Bernitt told Maxwell he had seen Wells in downtown Bloomington urinating in public and stumbling to his car. Maxwell then relayed the message to the state police post, where troopers were dispatched.\nKieran Casey graduated this past May and lived at 501 E. Seventh St., the house across the street from where Wells was arrested Sept. 27, 2002.\nCasey said he saw arresting troopers Travis Coryea and Stacy Brown talking to Wells on the street. According to police reports, Wells became violent and attacked the troopers, but Casey said it was the other way around.\n"It seemed to me that he was just standing there calmly and then all of a sudden there was a pretty violent take-down," Casey said.\nCasey testified that, from what he saw, Wells never did anything to provoke the officers.\n"(Wells) was taken down to the ground with his arms behind his back and he hit the ground pretty hard," Casey said. "Then they put a knee to his shoulder to keep him on the ground."\nMichael Tanoury lived with Casey and testified he also witnessed Wells' arrest.\nTanoury said he and a friend had returned from the IU Auditorium, went on his porch to say goodbye and saw Wells, Coryea and Brown.\n"You could see in their conversation that (Wells) wasn't happy, but there was no distinct movement of aggression," Tanoury said. "I remember one cop on top of him with his knee in his back area."\nTanoury and Casey had both been drinking that night, but he said neither of them were near the point of impairment.\nDefense attorney David Colman said the defense will call one more IU graduate and one current IU student to give their eyewitness testimonies before the trial concludes.\nTanoury and Casey said after the arrest, Coryea and Brown came to their home to conduct an interview.\n"There were some leading questions," Tanoury said. "Sometimes you can tell if someone is trying to take you in a specific direction."\nTanoury testified that Coryea asked him if he had a hard time seeing the arrest, and said he felt it was a leading question.\nWells said he was extremely lucky to have so many eyewitnesses testify in his defense.\n"These people came forward because when they read a list of my charges they wanted to tell what really happened," Wells said.\nSpecial Prosecutor Stan Levco introduced pictures demonstrating what he called an obstructed view between the arrest location and where the witnesses viewed the incident. The photographs were taken in June and Colman argued the pictures were not a proper representation of the foliage conditions the night of Wells' arrest.\nFormer Democratic county commissioner Brian O'Neill also took the stand Thursday to testify on behalf of Wells' character and his own experience with Bud Bernitt.\n"He's a boy scout," O'Neill said of Wells. "He always wants to do right."\nO'Neill said he and Wells have endured a degree of public criticism for certain decisions made as public officials. He said Bernitt had been outspoken against him and Wells because of those decisions.\n"He accused me of taking bribes, snorting cocaine with the mayor and murdering children," O'Neill said.\nO'Neill testified that Bernitt and Republican activists "tried to get him."\nColman and Levco said they don't expect the trial to conclude today and since Levco has a prior commitment all of next week the trail will be put on hold.\nAfter a week-long break, the trial will resume Nov. 10, but will recess Tuesday of that week for Veterans' Day.\nProceedings resume at 11 a.m. today in the Monroe County Courthouse.\n-- Contact senior writer Mitch Blacher at mblacher@indiana.edu.