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By DAPHNE HUTCHINSON
Rappahannock New* Staff Writer t- In a two-day trial in Richmond’s circuit ' court last week, the jury backtracked over a ; drug path, concluded that it began in Rappahan* nock County - not Fauquier - and found War' renton dentist Denis Andrew Peper Jr. not ' guilty of charges that he conspired to distribute ' cocaine. * In acquitting Dr. Peper, the jurors dis' counted the testimony of Ronald L. Nicholson ‘ and George H. Massie, both of Rappahannock, * who told of regularly buying drugs from Peper ’.With the transactions dating back to when he ’ was a student at the Medical College of Virgin! ia’s School of Dentistry. * Dr. Peper admitted to the “social” use of co* caine over a three to four-year period from 1983 ; to 1987 but said he had purchased the drug “once ' or twice a month, maybe a gram or two” from i Nicholson and Massie and not the other way !around.
In December 1986, the two Rappahannock County men were arrested with large amounts of cocaine in their possession and later pleaded r-guilty to charges of possession with intent to distribute. But through plea bargains with the -Commonwealth, Nicholson and Massie received .'reduced sentences in ex- change for their cooper* Ration in the continuing, multi-jurisdiction drug -investigation that resulted in Dr. Peper’s indict-ment by a special grand jury last August. > “It’s home cookin’ when you get out in the ‘country,” defense attorney Michael Morchower 'told the jurors, describing the agreement with '^Nicholson. “It’s the good old boy network . . . ^They put the burner on up there in Rappahan‘ nock County and they cook. ”
“Dr. Peper is an afterthought in this prosecution,” said Morchower, attacking the credibility of the Commonwealth’s witnesses. Attempting to evade the penalties for the felonies they committed, Massie and Nicholson iden
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