The Associated Press

MAYFIELD, Ky. - A judge has dismissed all charges against a man who was accused in the death of a teenager and said he considered jailing a police officer who withheld evidence from the defense.

"I have never seen a case so encumbered with problems, and I hope I never see another one," said Graves County Circuit Judge John Daughaday on Wednesday.

The case against Jeremy Adams, 22, of Mayfield was dismissed without prejudice, meaning he could be reindicted.

Adams, who is white, was accused of the July 2000 slaying of Jessica Currin, 18, who was black. Due to pretrial publicity, the trial was moved to Benton in Marshall County, which has only 37 black residents out of a population of 30,125.

Daughaday said he came "pretty close" to putting Mayfield Assistant Police Chief Tim Fortner in jail after learning that Adams' attorney didn't receive 18 audio and video tapes containing police interviews until Tuesday, a week before Adams' trial was scheduled to start.

The tapes turned over to defense attorney Renae Tuck included an interview with a juvenile, who confessed to the crime but was not able to give Fortner specifics of the murder.

"It was really nothing, but they were entitled to that," Commonwealth's Attorney David Hargrove said, adding he didn't think Fortner withheld the tapes intentionally, even though he was negligent.

"It's not as sinister as it appears," Hargrove said. "But it surely looks bad."

Hargrove said he didn't have the tapes in question, either.

Daughaday said he would have dismissed the charges with prejudice if he thought Hargrove had been involved in not turning over the evidence.

Several times this week, the judge emphasized that it was Hargrove's duty to make sure the defense received all the evidence. That failure alone would have been grounds for an appeal, Daughaday said.

Daughaday expressed disbelief in court over the problems in the case. He told members of the Currin family that they were entitled to closure, but it had to be done according to the law.

"It's a real tragedy it's going to have to end like this now," he said.

Adams remains the primary suspect in Currin's death, Hargrove said. Adams also had been charged with tampering with physical evidence and abuse of a corpse.

He was in jail on an unrelated drug conviction when he was indicted in Currin's death.

Currin's beaten and burned body was found by a teacher behind Mayfield Middle School on Aug. 1, 2000. Police believe her body was behind the school for more than 48 hours.

Charges in connection with the Currin murder against two other people will also be dropped. Carlos Saxton, 22, of Mayfield, had been charged with complicity, and a juvenile had been charged with hindering prosecution and apprehension, and criminal facilitation to commit murder.