Billy Long’s defense team wants the psychological evaluation of the confidential informant who helped land the former Hamilton County Sheriff in prison on federal drug and other charges.

Defense attorney Jerry Summers says the evaluation is needed to advance Mr. Long’s claim of “sentencing entrapment and/or sentencing manipulation.”

“(Clarence Eugene Overstreet) has a history of manipulating, lying to, and cheating other people,” Mr. Summers writes in his motion.

Mr. Long pleaded guilty May 5 to 27 of 28 counts of extortion, money laundering, drug trafficking and firearm offenses, partly as a result of Mr. Overstreet’s cooperation with the FBI during several undercover stings earlier this year.

Mr. Summers already has alleged that the most serious crime Mr. Long is charged with — possession of cocaine with intent to distribute — never would have happened had it not been for a “reverse sting” in which Mr. Overstreet and the government entrapped his client.

The drug charge alone carries a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison. Mr. Summers plans to argue that Mr. Long qualifies for the “safety valve,” a mechanism in federal sentencing guidelines that can be used when defendants meet certain criteria such as no prior criminal history.

Mr. Long is scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 18, a date that will likely change since Mr. Summers plans to be out of town that day on other business.

For complete details, see tomorrow’s Chattanooga Times Free Press.

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