Five in unusual federal trial on meth-making charges

Five residents of Monroe County are charged with making the illegal stimulant inside a ramshackle mobile home and nearby storage shed. The drug is easily manufactured at home using household items and nonprescription cold remedies.

“You’ve heard the term smoking gun,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeff Theodore told the jury Wednesday. “Well, in this case, we have a smoking meth lab.”

The case centers on a November 2002 search of Ernie Miller’s dilapidated trailer in a remote area of the county, about 40 miles southwest of Knoxville.

Theodore said the search turned up evidence of a meth lab — and a batch of the drug boiling on a hot plate.

Theodore and Assistant U.S. Attorney James Brooks seek to establish a conspiracy among five people who were either at the trailer when deputies served the search warrant or showed up while the search was under way.

Charged in the case are:

— Miller, owner of the trailer and described by prosecutors as the gun-carrying leader of the conspiracy.

Defense Attorney Roland Cowden told jurors that Miller was just a meth-using gunsmith who tinkered with broken weapons to earn a little money but did little else.

— Miller’s wife, Mary Miller, is a legally blind grandmother of 10. She is addicted to alcohol and meth and her drug use keeps her from worrying about her failing eyesight, marriage and economic condition, defense attorney Beth Ford said.

“Mary didn’t care if Ernie was buying (methamphetamine) or making it,” Ford told the jury. “She just wanted the meth.”

— Mary Miller’s daughter, Samantha Moreno, who prosecutors say used her employee discount at the Wal-Mart to buy large quantities of the materials used to make the illegal drug.

Defense Attorney Kenneth Irvine said Moreno was a hardworking mother who simply had the bad luck of visiting her drug-addicted mother on the day deputies searched the trailer.

— Richard Ramsey, known in Monroe County as “Rambo” for his fondness for camouflage clothing and backwoods survival skills.

Defense Attorney James Varner declined to make an opening statement to the jury Wednesday.

— Steven Bivens. Defense Attorney Bruce Poston told the jury that Bivens is a meth user who sends his wife off to work while he stays home and sells their possessions to buy drugs.

“Steven Bivens was not part of any conspiracy,” Poston said. “He’s a drug user — nothing more, nothing less.”

The trial before U.S. District Judge Thomas Phillips was expected to last three days.

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Information from: The Knoxville News Sentinel, http://www.knoxnews.com