PORT ANGELES — Charges against two Port Angeles men accused of dealing heroin last August have been dismissed.
Clallam County Superior Court Judge Ken Williams signed the order dismissing the cases against Kevin C. Carter, 52, and Gene R. Cuello, 44, who were arrested in October for investigation of delivery of a controlled substance and committing the offense within 1,000 feet of a school.
The two were charged with two counts each Nov. 2.
Carter also was charged with unlawful use of a building for drug purposes.
Williams signed the order dismissing cases against both men April 2.
Port Angeles defense attorney Ralph Anderson argued in a March 27 motion that the state failed to provide the identity, contract, background and criminal record of the confidential informant that the Olympic Peninsula Narcotics Enforcement Team said it used to tie Carter and Cuello to the alleged drug transactions.
“It is extremely prejudicial to any defendant, and the two involved here in particular, to be denied the identity of a critical witness as either a matter of policy or negligence,” Anderson wrote.
“Defense counsel need time to research the background and record of the C/I [confidential informant], interview him or her, and prepare for a critical trial witness. This cannot be done on a moment’s notice.”
Prosecutors countered in a March 28 response that the burden is on the defense to show disclosure is necessary and that the defendants failed to meet the burden of showing prejudice.
Olympic Peninsula Narcotics Enforcement Team detectives said heroin allegedly was purchased on multiple occasions from people in Carter’s Port Angeles home.
About 20 members of OPNET participated in the arrests of Carter and Cuello at their residences on the 200 block of West Seventh Street, OPNET said.