Fight over admissibility of evidence begins Ward trial

and Jonathan Kaye Marketing Professor Scott Ward sat expressionless in the Montgomery County Courthouse yesterday as the prosecution accused him of soliciting prostitution from minors. Meanwhile, his defense team argued that most of the evidence allegedly pointing to his incrimination -- including pornographic materials and correspondence found in Ward's home -- is inadmissable in court. Ward was arrested on October 1, 1993, when he allegedly propositioned Sean McMahon, an undercover Pennsylvania State Trooper, for sex. McMahon, who was posing as a 15-year-old boy named "Frankie," was wearing a concealed microphone when he met Ward at a Roy Rogers restaurant in Ardmore. The two then drove to Ward's home. But the detectives botched the attempt to tape the conversation between Ward and McMahon. "Since I didn't check [the recorder], I consider it to be my fault," testified Detective Raymond Kuter from the Montgomery County District Attorney's office yesterday. According to Kuter, the tape recorder was set to receive from a telephone jack, instead of from the microphone. But Ward's attorney, Jean Green, challenged the claim that the tape recorder malfunction was a simple oversight by the detectives on the scene, stating that the detectives had recently received training in the use of the equipment. "If you believe they forgot to set the tape correctly, you also believe in the tooth fairy," Green said after yesterday's hearing. Although the conversation between Ward and McMahon was not successfully recorded, Montgomery County First Assistant District Attorney Bruce Castor -- who was monitoring their conversation in a police surveillance vehicle -- testified that he heard Ward ask McMahon whether he liked sex. According to Castor, Ward told McMahon that he personally liked sex, and that McMahon could earn a lot of money by having sex with him. Shortly after this conversation, McMahon entered Ward's bathroom and whispered into the transmitter that Ward had sufficiently incriminated himself, and that police could enter the house and arrest him, Castor testified. As police approached Ward's Ardmore home -- which officers described as a huge, nine-bedroom house with a tennis court, a pool and a 10-foot-high wall surrounding it -- they allegedly saw Ward and McMahon begin to go upstairs. At that point, police entered the house. Green questioned the legality of the search of Ward's premises. According to several witnesses, the police at the scene entered Ward's home before Kuter obtained the arrest warrant and the search warrant for the premises. However, Kuter maintained that the actual search was not conducted until after the search warrant was issued. If Ward's residence was illegally searched, the pornographic material, relevant computer files and other incriminating evidence allegedly found inside could be suppressed. Finally, Green questioned the reliability of the informant who first told the police about Ward's alleged activity in August 1993. The informant was spending three to six years in prison for burglary at the time he spoke to the police. Green asked whether the informant's sentence was lightened subsequent to his help. Kuter replied that it was, but that the two events were unrelated. Ward's criminal charges include criminal attempts to commit corruption of a minor, involuntary deviant intercourse, and solicitation to commit prostitution. Ward has allegedly had sexual contact with at least five boys. Yesterday's arguments were made as part of a preliminary hearing. The actual trial will begin in a few weeks, according to several sources. Following the criminal case, Ward faces a civil suit filed by "B.M.," one of his alleged victims. The civil charges against Ward include assault and battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligent infliction of emotional distress, negligence and fraud. He is being sued for at least $50,000 for each charge.