7/3/98

DA appealing decision to return cash to suspect

By Robert Baird
TRIBUNE-REVIEW

The Allegheny County District Attorney's Office is appealing a judge's decision to return $4,000 seized from Jamal Tait after the utility vehicle he was driving struck and killed a 7-year-old North Side boy. The notice of appeal filed Thursday to Commonwealth Court will stay the order of Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey Manning to return the money, which the prosecution contends is evidence in the criminal homicide case filed against Tait, 22, of the North Side, in the death of Raymond Michelotti Jr. on June 22, said Assistant District Attorney Thomas Swan.

Manning refused a request yesterday to reconsider the decision he made Wednesday ordering that the money to be photocopied and then turned over to Tait's family. Defense attorney Patrick Thomassey contends that the money in Tait's possession belonged to his mother, Theresa Allen, who needs it now to hire experts in the preparation of her son's defense. Swan also filed a petition yesterday for the forfeiture of the money under the drug laws, contending that the money was intended by Tait to be used in the purchase of marijuana. The petition contends two teen-agers said Tait told them he was looking for "pounds" of marijuana, flashed the money and drove back and forth from the North Side to Bellevue for more than an hour in search of the drug. Pittsburgh Detective Michael O'Neill had his dog, Arno, sniff the money and the dog "alerted positively" for the presence of the odor of a controlled substance, the petition said. Manning has taken no action on the forfeiture petition, which is a civil matter that can involve the calling of witnesses on both sides to support their positions about the ownership of the money. Thomassey hasn't responded to the forfeiture action. Tait, who has been charged with criminal homicide in the death of young Michelotti, has a record for possession of marijuana and possession with intent to deliver cocaine. Tait is being held in the Allegheny County Jail in lieu of $1 million bond set by Manning on the homicide charge and two unrelated cases.