By Becky Coursey-Staff Reporter beckyndl@hotmail.com

On March 24, Harold Garnett Hankins, 80, of Logan County, was brought before a Federal Court judge in Bowling Green for a preliminary and attention hearing on the charges that Hankins attempted to put a 'hit' out on two local police officers.

After hearing testimony by David Hayes, agent for the Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, and hearing audio recordings of Hankins allegedly speaking to a confidential informant, the judge denied bond, releasing him to the custody of the Warren County Detention Center until the case can be heard before the U.S. Grand Jury.

Agent Hayes testified that he first began to deal with Hankins during an executed search warrant by the South Central Kentucky Drug Task Force on July 27, 2004. The director of this task force is Jim Devasher. On Hankins' property, located at 615 Dawson Road, Russellville, agents of the task force discovered 212 marijuana plants located in four or five different plots of land. Inside Hankins' home, they found processed marijuana, digital scales, elements of marijuana cultivation such as Miracle Grow, and six firearms.

Hankins was, as a result of the findings on his property, brought up on state charges. Agent Hayes testified that after being charged, authorities initiated a "forfeiture of property" which included a truck, bank accounts, and the rest of the property upon which the marijuana was discovered. As director of the Drug Task Force, Jim Devasher was "ultimately responsible for the state charges."

This, apparently, was all the motivation Hankins needed to try to have Devasher seriously injured or killed, his accusers contend.

Agent Hayes was asked when he first heard of threats directed toward Devasher, and later, Sheriff Wallace Whittaker. Hays testified that someone with whom Hankins was very familiar had reported on Nov. 8, 2004 that Hankins had approached him to find a "hit man" to have Devasher and Whittaker harmed, and that he had offered to pay $20,000. The person who reported these verbal threats agreed to become a "confidential informant," and was then wired with a transmitter to record further conversations with Hankins.

The confidential informant met with Hankins many times, recording conversations on three occasions, Nov. 9, 16th, and 18th.

One such recorded conversation was played as evidence during the Preliminary Hearing in Federal Court.

Hankins was heard to say to the informant about Devasher, "I want the man shot before I give him (the hitman) any money."

Hankins went on to say, "I want his legs shot out, I want him crippled. I want him hospitalized from the (expletive) bullet."

Then Hankins was heard on the tape discussing Sheriff Wallace Whittaker, saying, "I'd just as soon that (expletive) be shot as Devasher."

Hankins went back and forth between wanting the men killed and just wanting them seriously injured, saying, "I don't want him killed. I want him crippled so people can see."

His main motivation was fear that his land and property would be seized. He said, "If I lost this place and everything that they want, I'll kill him myself." Hankins apparently wanted to wait to see if Devasher would go through with the seizure of his property before carrying out the hit. In one taped conversation, Hankins said something about calling the "whole thing off," but the prosecuting attorney stated that this was simply to wait to see if Devasher could be influenced to drop the state charges.

When asked by defense attorney Ken Dillingham why, if agents believed Hankins to be such a serious threat, did they wait until Friday, March 18 to arrest Hankins, Hays stated that after speaking with Devasher, they agreed to wait. But, the prosecuting attorney, Brian Butler, stated they were constantly aware of Hankins' whereabouts via the confidential informant.

"He wants to take everything I've worked for my whole life," said Hankins. The statement that Judge Goebel later said influenced his decision to withhold bond was from Hankins when he said, "What the (expletive) have I got to lose?" Hankins then said if he got caught, jail would be like being in a "rest home."

Hankins said on many occasions on the tape that he would give "cash money" to the informant, who would then pay the hit man. Hankins stated that he had plenty of money either 'buried' or being taken care of by other people that the police and courts didn't know about.

After listening to the tape, Agent Hays was dismissed from the witness stand. Dillingham argued that because Hankins had no prior drug charges and no indications of violence in his past, and the fact that the man was 80 years old, he should be released on bond. "We don't believe he's a threat," he said.

Butler said that they had very "grave concerns about the release of Mr. Hankins." He pointed to the statements of "I don't have anything to lose" and "It'll be like going to a rest home" when Hankins spoke about getting caught.

Judge Goebel agreed with the prosecution: "The words I heard were words of a desperate man." The judge went on say that he not only would fear for the lives of Devasher and Whittaker if Hankins were released, but also the life of the confidential informant. "These threats are so strong," said the judge, "that I couldn't sleep well at night if I didn't detain him."