Virginia Tech football star Branden Ore was not on trial Wednesday, but it certainly felt like it in the federal courtroom where Ore’s friend Tony Majette faced a charge of possessing crack cocaine with intent to distribute it.

The case, which is scheduled to resume today in Roanoke, is in one sense a routine drug case. But Majette’s trial has drawn additional notice because of Ore, the tailback whose Orange Bowl performance last week was a bright note in the Hokies’ defeat.

The defense contends Ore could have been the owner of the crack found in the car in which he and Majette were traveling when Blacksburg police stopped them in June 2006. Both men were taken to the police station and questioned, but only Majette was charged.

A key question raised by Majette’s defense is whether Ore was treated differently because of his status as a high-profile Tech player. One after another, the various officers called to testify Wednesday denied it.

Ore took the stand and said repeatedly that the drugs were not his. He said he and Majette were going to look at some tires he was thinking of buying when police pulled the car over for having windows that were tinted too darkly.

Majette, who was driving, seemed panicked, Ore said. Majette rifled through his pockets, tossed a plastic bag into Ore’s lap and said to do something with it, Ore testified.

“I was nervous. I wanted it out of my possession. I just tossed it aside,” Ore said.

That was the prosecution’s version of the pair’s ride.

Matt Gentry | The Roanoke Times

Virginia Tech running back Branden Ore was a passenger in a car in which crack cocaine was found.

What's next?

• Tony Majette’s trial will continue today in Roanoke.

Related

• Ore may testify in federal drug case

The defense, however, claims Ore was looking for marijuana, and Majette took him to see a dealer he knew. On the way, the car was stopped, and Majette was left to take the fall for drugs he knew nothing about. Police found about 23 grams of crack in the car in two bags, one on the floor behind the passenger seat and the other between the passenger seat and the door.

A digital scale was found under the passenger seat and behind it was a glass jar that smelled of marijuana, though there was too little of the substance to result in a charge, Blacksburg police Officer Michael Czernicki said.

Another unusual element of the case is a dispute about whether Majette confessed. According to Blacksburg police Sgt. Anthony Wilson, Majette said “I’ll take it” when they were discussing who would be charged for the drugs, then offered to become a police informant.

U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent Dustin Harmon testified that on four subsequent occasions, Majette offered information about the travels of Anthony Lamont Long, aka “Banks,” a local drug dealer.

But Public Defender Larry Shelton, who is representing Majette, said his client never confessed. The “I’ll take it” statement was a more nuanced, defiant response to the threatened charges, Shelton said.

Over Shelton’s objections, Long was brought from the New River Valley Regional Jail, where he is serving a sentence for a drug conviction, to testify that he had bought and sold crack and powder cocaine and marijuana with Majette 20 to 30 times in the year before Majette and Ore were stopped.

Shelton returned several times to an apparent discrepancy from the night Majette and Ore were stopped: Ore was asked to make a written statement to police and implicated Majette as the source of the crack; yet there was no written record of Majette’s confession. Wilson said a written statement is not typical when a subject wants to become an informant.

Shelton also noted that police never tested the two bags of crack for fingerprints. Harmon responded that tests aren’t requested if there has been a confession.

Czernicki, the officer who made the traffic stop, said he had planned to charge both Majette and Ore. But that changed when he was told Majette had confessed, he said.