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53 °F Forecast | Road Cams Thursday, April 21, 2005 Today's News | Shop Our Valley | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery | Contact Us SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Menu Guide How To Guide Health Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Real Estate Guide Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Passport to the Rogue Valley SHOP OUR VALLEY AutoFinder HomeFinder JobFinder Classified Place an ad TOP JOBS EXTRA Ashland News NIE Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People Volunteer Moving here? eSouthernOregon CUSTOMER SERVICE FAQ's Advertise with us Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend April 20, 2005 Murder plot or entrapment? Harelson trial opens By SARAH LEMON Mail Tribune A policeman who was the subject of a convicted grave robber’s alleged murder plot said he just couldn’t wait for the man to come to him. Instead, after hearing Jack Harelson wanted him dead, Oregon State Police Lt. Walt Markee masterminded a plan offering Harelson the services of a fictitious hit man. OSP’s undercover informant, Brian Doland, carried the scheme back to Harelson. It was an idea that never entered Harelson’s head until police presented it, argued defense attorney Robert Abel in Tuesday’s opening of Harelson’s Jackson County Circuit Court retrial for attempted aggravated murder and conspiracy to commit murder. Last year, jurors could not decide in Harelson’s first trial if the Grants Pass resident was guilty of paying a hit man $10,000 in black opals to kill Markee and former business partner Lloyd Olds, of Brookings. Markee was the chief investigator in the 1996 case resulting in Harelson’s conviction for looting American Indian graves in Nevada. Olds told police tales of Harelson’s pot hunting. Advertisement Harelson’s defense this time is the same — police entrapment. "Who prompts, who pushes?" Abel asked after urging jurors to pay attention to who initiated conversations about murder. "Again, this whole thing begins with Brian Doland." Abel questioned payments police made to Doland and asked Markee why a 1998 federal drug case against Doland has yet to be resolved. But OSP has offered Doland no breaks on his pending criminal case, Markee testified. Working with informants who either want to get out of jail, stay out of jail or be paid is an everyday part of police work, he told the jury. OSP paid Doland $20,000, mostly to reimburse him for expenses between July 30, 2002, and March this year, Markee said. The murder-for-hire investigation commenced only after Doland told state police several times that Harelson really wanted to kill a few of his foes, prosecutor Tim Barnack told the jury. Doland initially was looking into Harelson’s suspected sale of American Indian artifacts when the murders came up. "The state police apparently can’t get it into their thick skulls that (Harelson’s) serious," Barnack said. The first jury acquitted Harelson, 64, of plotting the murders of two other men: Josephine County Judge Loyd O’Neal, who presided over Harelson’s 1996 trial; and Richard Ledger, a former business partner who died before Harelson’s January 2003 arrest. The trial continues today. Call Sarah Lemon at 776-4487; e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Website Feedback Free Music Downloads Conference Calls - $50/Month Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker, Trunk, Footlockers home equity loans helzberg Distance Education Diamonds Online Poker Slippers Student Loans tcg student loan consolidation teleconferencing Memory Foam Mattress w2 forms Tatoo Tatoos Advertisement s