UPDATE: Two Pulaski County constables discovered responsible of violating individuals’s civil rights with unlawful searches

Michael “Wally” Wallace (left) and Gary Baldock (right) Courtesy: Sentinel-Echo

UPDATE PUBLISHED 7:17 PM Friday, June 18, 2021:

LONDON, Kentucky (WTVQ) – After about four hours of deliberation Friday, a federal jury found two Pulaski County police officers guilty of conspiracy to violate civil rights and possess methamphetamine with intent to distribute, according to media reports.

Michael “Wally” Wallace and Gary Baldock are reported to be sentenced in October this year. Appointments are possible according to reports.

The two men were arrested in March last year. Gary Baldock was involved in a shooting with the FBI during his arrest. An agent and Baldock were both injured in an exchange of fire.

Wallace and Baldock have been charged with conspiracy to violate people’s constitutional rights by ransacking their homes and stealing their money or other property for no good reason, according to the court records.

According to court records, they were also charged with confiscating people and places exposed to meth as part of a plan to conduct illegal searches and seizures.

Both men plead their innocence.

UPDATE, POSTED THURSDAY, JUNE 17, 2021 at 8:00 p.m.

LONDON, Kentucky (WTVQ) – A federal judge on Thursday declined to dismiss two Pulaski County police officers in court for alleged violation of human rights through improper searches and seizures, the Lexington Herald leader said.

Michael “Wally” Wallace and Gary Baldock’s defense attorneys alleged the federal prosecutor did not provide enough evidence in the two men’s trial this week, the report said.

The lawyers asked US District Judge Robert E. Wier to acquit the two police officers instead of letting a jury decide their fate, the report said.

Judge Wier ruled that there was enough evidence to allow a jury to rule the case, according to the Lexington Herald leader.

Wallace and Baldock are charged with conspiracy to violate human rights and possession of methamphetamine with the intent to distribute it by allegedly planting the drug on people, according to court records.

Defense attorneys argue that Wallace and Baldock never planted drugs on anyone, and never conducted illegal searches or illegal seizures.

The trial started on Monday. Up to eight days were planned.

ORIGINAL STORY PUBLISHED MONDAY JUNE 14, 2021

LONDON, Kentucky (WTVQ) – On the opening day of a federal trial, a district attorney told jurors Michael “Wally” Wallace and Gary Baldock to the Pulaski District jury that they were holding methamphetamine, which they cultivate in people as part of a fraudulent search and seizure plan might, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader.

U.S. Assistant Attorney Jason D. Parman says FBI agents found 5.9 grams of meth in Wallace’s house and half a gram of the drug in a vehicle at Baldock’s house, according to the newspaper report.

Wallace’s attorney Robert Norfleet says Wallace had the meth while waiting to store it elsewhere, and attorneys for both defendants told jurors the two cops hadn’t brought drug evidence to anyone and were innocent, according to the newspaper report.

Wallace and Baldock are charged, according to court records, with conspiracy to violate people’s constitutional rights by ransacking their homes and stealing their money or other property for no good reason.

The two are also charged with possession of meth for deliberate distribution for planting the meth, which the newspaper report said would qualify as distribution under federal law.

Baldock is also charged with shooting and wounding an FBI agent while being arrested at Baldock’s home in March 2020. Baldock was wounded in the exchange of fire, according to court records.

Prosecutor Parman says the investigation into the police began after three Somerset police officers saw Wallace do something that worried them, the newspaper report said.

The FBI later had an informant who called Wallace’s drug advice about a potential drug dealer coming to Pulaski County; However, the alleged drug dealer was an undercover FBI agent who, according to the report, had more than $ 10,000 in his truck and hotel room. Prosecutor Parman says Wallace and Baldock falsely arrested the undercover agent on charges of public drunkenness, the Lexington Herald leader said.

Baldock’s attorney John Kevin West says there is no evidence Baldock consented to violate people’s civil rights, the report said. Wallace’s attorney says it made no sense for Wallace to plant drugs with other cops on the scene, noting that Wallace reportedly did not steal any of the money the undercover agent had when he was arrested.

Prosecutor Parman says other witnesses will testify in court that the police officers stole property and arrested them for no reason or carried out unconstitutional searches, the newspaper report said.

The trial will take place in the US District Court in London. It can take up to eight days.