at Nicholson’s house, then returned to Richmond where Lacy’s

at Nicholson’s house, then returned to Richmond where Lacy’s truck was searched. Police found four ounces of high grade cocaine and a set of scales, Detective Wade said.

The detective contacted the State Police at the Culpeper division headquarters and returned to Washington. Special agents from the Culpeper office, acting on the testimony of Lacy and Wade, swore out a search warrant for Nicholson’s house. That raid turned up six more ounces of a similarly high grade cocaine, according to testimony.

Lacy, a 23-year-old resident of Richmond, told the jury that Massie had asked for a ride to Washington and had offered to give him a half gram of cocaine for the favor. He said he’d known Massie for three years and had obtained cocaine from him on a number of past occasions.

He described Massie as a student at the University of Richmond who rarely attended classes, slept days and partied nights and was a moderate drinker and heavy drug user who ingested cocaine on a daily basis. Lacy also testified that he’d seen Denis Peper on two occasions at Massie’s apartment.

Brad Gray, 27, also of Richmond, admitted purchasing cocaine in quarter ounces from Massie on a regular basis and making a trip with him to a farm house in “the Middleburg area, Warrenton” to buy a larger quantity on one occasion but said he did not know who was Massie’s connection there. According to Gray’s testimony, he initiated the trip to Nicholson’s on Dec. 12 by asking Massie for a quarter ounce of cocaine.

Massie said he called Denis Peper “to see if the cocaine was going to be there ... He told me to come up that night . . . Said I should go to Ron’s house, because Ron had the cocaine for me.” According to Massie, he was to give the dentist $1,750 an ounce, with the payment date unspecified.

l

(See TRIAL, p. 5)