Man Says Drugs Found In Car Weren’t His

Three kinds of illegal drugs found in his rental car belonged to a woman friend who is a heroin addict, a ninetime felon told a Spokane jury Wednesday.

Edward P. Collicott testified that he used drugs in a Yakima motel room with Melaunie Zaidi last June.

But the 50-year-old defendant said sizable quantities of cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine found in the car when the couple returned to Spokane didn’t belong to him.

If convicted of federal drug charges, he faces a minimum, mandatory sentence of 30 years in prison.

After a two-day trial, his fate will be decided today by a U.S. District Court jury.

His activities have interested Spokane-area law enforcement officers for three decades. He has previous convictions for drug possession, grand larceny, assault and interstate transportation of stolen securities.

“Mandatory life (in prison) is what I’m facing right now for a bag of drugs that don’t belong to me,” Collicott told the jury.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Harrington asked Judge Frem Nielsen to strike that testimony, and Nielsen instructed the jury to disregard Collicott’s comments.

The judge told jurors to only consider Collicott’s guilt or innocence, and not base their decision on any possible prison sentence.

Called to testify in his own defense, Collicott testified that he regularly used heroin since 1984 and had made “considerable purchases” in Spokane from Zaidi.

Last June, he testified, she proposed the two take a “fun trip” to Yakima.

Collicott said he believed his friend wanted to make the the trip to get money “from a sugar daddy” or commit an act of prostitution to support her drug habit.

Once there, Collicott admitted he used drugs in a Yakima motel with Zaidi.

“She’s a connoisseur of crack cocaine,” Collicott said in telling the jurors how Zaidi prepared the rock for smoking, occasionally adding flavoring.

“I’m not into it that much, but I was interested in her,” he responded to a question from defense attorney Dan Johnson.

When Collicott left the Yakima motel room for about an hour, a man named “Luis” delivered the drugs, Zaidi told authorities. Five undercover officers watching the motel room were following Collicott at the time.

The same drug dealer had sold $11,000 worth of drugs “the previous week to the Collicott family,” sheriff’s Deputy Chris Kehl testified. He interviewed Zaidi on June 10 after Collicott was arrested.

“Were those your drugs?” Johnson asked his client.

“No, they were not my drugs,” Collicott responded. “They were Melaunie Zaidi’s drugs, and I’ve paid dearly so far for it.”