A woman who was killed in retaliation for working as a police informant should have been offered drug treatment instead of a job as a paid informant, her parents claim in a lawsuit filed against the police unit that recruited her.
Bruce and Cathy Basham filed the lawsuit in Kanawha County Circuit Court this week on behalf of the estate of Branda Basham, 22, who was shot to death on July 12, 2014 on Charleston's West Side. Marlon "Ice" Dixon admitted he shot Basham to death after finding out she was working as a police informant.
The Basham's lawsuit accuses officers with the Metropolitan Drug Enforcement Network Team, known as the Metro Drug Unit, of fueling their daughter's drug addiction by offering her a paid job interacting with dangerous drug dealers.
"Instead of arresting and referring Branda Basham to prosecutors so as to divert her into a drug court or pre-trial intervention program with the purpose of intervention, the Defendants turned a blind eye to her drug use and encouraged her to stay on the streets knowing she would continue to use and remain addicted to drugs," the lawsuit states.
The Metro Drug Unit is a multi-agency taskforce made up of police officers from departments in Kanawha and Putnam counties. Charleston Lt. Eric Johnson, who leads the unit, couldn't immediately be reached for comment Thursday.
The lawsuit also names Nitro and Charleston police departments, along with officers C.A. Greene, of Nitro, and O.B. Morris and J.C. Powell, of Charleston. Paul Stroebel, the Charleston lawyer representing the Bashams, wrote in the complaint that he expects more officers alleged to have been involved will be added to the lawsuit.
Before her death, Basham had been committing petty crimes to support her drug habit, according to the lawsuit. She had been taken into police custody at least five times between January 2014 until her death, the lawsuit states. In October 2013, Basham was recruited to become a paid undercover informant, according to the complaint.
"On each occasion, Branda Basham was tasked with performing the same highly dangerous job of a vice-narcotics undercover officer despite the fact that she was an untrained civilian," the complaint states.
Dixon had sold Basham heroin and wanted to stop her from testifying against him, he admitted in federal court. He was sentenced last month to spend the rest of his life in federal prison, after pleading guilty last year to tampering with a witness or informant by killing.
Dixon shouldn't have had the chance to kill Basham after suspecting her as an informant, the Bashams also allege. But law enforcement officers didn't immediately arrest him as a magistrate had ordered, according to the complaint.
In May 2014, Basham, while wearing a wire, was sent to make controlled heroin buys from Dixon, who the officers knew was dangerous, the lawsuit claims.
Basham bought heroin three times from Dixon, while under the supervision of police, according to the lawsuit.
After the third controlled buy, Kanawha Magistrate Julie Yeager signed an arrest warrant directing police to immediately take Dixon into custody, the lawsuit states. Yeager also granted officers a warrant to search Dixon's home.
Police attempted to execute the search warrant on May 22, 2014. Dixon wasn't there but he saw police at his home, the complaint states.
Later that day, Dixon spoke on the phone with Greene, the lawsuit states, and was told there was a warrant for his arrest based on controlled buys of heroin. Dixon suspected Basham, according to the lawsuit, and immediately knew he was "gonna kill," wrote U.S. District Judge Thomas Johnston in federal court documents, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit claims Greene made a deal with Dixon that allowed him to remain free for 10 days, through the Memorial Day weekend. That way, Dixon would get to spend time with his family before going back to jail. However, the complaint says that when the 10 days were up, Dixon never turned himself in and police never went searching for him.
Basham was killed about two months after the arrest warrant was issued for Dixon, according to the complaint.
Her body was found on the railroad tracks near the 700 block of Breece Street. She was shot three times - in the face and back, the lawsuit states.
Dixon turned himself into police five days after Basham's death.
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