Jury acquits man in cocaine case

A Champaign County jury Wednesday acquitted a man of possessing cocaine intended for sale. A jury deliberated about six hours before finding Stephen Wells, 33, who listed addresses on North Lincoln Avenue in Urbana and West Bradley Avenue in Champaign, of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance. The charge stemmed from his April 13, 2011, arrest after a traffic stop on Interstate 57 just south of Rantoul. Testimony before Judge Tom Difanis was that Wells was a passenger in a car stopped for speeding about 11 a.m. Because the trooper smelled burned cannabis and the odor of cannabis coming from Wells' mouth, he asked Wells and the driver to get out. During a patdown search of Wells, the trooper felt something the size of a baseball near his buttocks. When the trooper tried to handcuff Wells, he ran, fleeing across four lanes of interstate traffic and jumping over a barbed wire retaining fence. He stopped when the trooper's canine partner reached him. In the path of Wells' flight, troopers found a bag containing about 2.3 ounces of cocaine. A state crime lab analyst testified she could find no fingerprints suitable for comparison on the bag, which was identified as cocaine. Wells testified he ran because he was scared by the trooper's search and the dog. His attorney, Scott Lerner, argued no one saw Wells with the cocaine, there were no fingerprints identified on the package, no DNA analysis done to suggest who had held it, and nothing to prove it was intended for sale. The package was a single clump of cocaine as opposed to several smaller packages. Assistant State's Attorney Troy Lozar argued there was enough circumstantial evidence to suggest that the cocaine came from Wells when he fled from the trooper. Wells, who has several prior drug-related convictions, is also facing trial on a Class X charge of possession with intent to deliver crack cocaine stemming from his arrest in Urbana March 30. He is scheduled to be back in court on that June 26.