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Sam McCaster, Dec. 16, 2023, in Buford, GA. Sam is a published author and often writes about the struggles he has overcome.
Credit: Justin Taylor/The Current
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GBNET defendants didn’t know they could get cases reviewed
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Caitlin Philippo, The Current
BUFORD, Ga. — Many defendants included on lists of potentially compromised cases prepared by the Glynn County district attorney said they were unaware their accusers had been convicted of misconduct or that their cases could be reviewed until The Current contacted them this past winter.
One of those people was Sam McCaster, a Brunswick native whose arrest in 2016 involved former Glynn County police officer James Cassada and a confidential informant.
Reached by phone at his home north of Atlanta, McCaster went silent when he was told of the convictions of Glynn-Brunswick Narcotics Enforcement Team officers and that his conviction might be eligible for review. After a moment of contemplation, his voice broke. He had no idea about the scandal or his place on the list.
Born and raised in one of Brunswick’s poorest neighborhoods, McCaster always dreamed of a different future for himself than the aimless patterns of addiction that plagued the neighborhood. Targeted policing was the norm for Black men like him, he said, as was hopelessness. “All you saw was marginalization, and people that just couldn’t get out of the rut. So they drank. Or they used,” said McCaster.
A model high school student at Glynn Academy, he was pursuing a degree in marketing at Armstrong State University. But then he began using drugs recreationally. He was first arrested in June 2000, on a possession charge. He then started using drugs more heavily, and life fell apart. He maintains, however, that he never sold drugs.
Yet on Dec. 2, 2016, McCaster was pulled over in a traffic stop. That’s when a police officer informed him that he had a pending warrant for his arrest.
According to the arrest warrants, Officer Simpson — one of the five officers later cited as an unreliable witness by Judge Roger Lane — stated that McCaster, more than a month earlier, had sold “an amount of methamphetamine” to an unnamed confidential informant. The patrol officer took him to jail, where he was charged with two counts of the sale of a controlled substance. Cassada was part of the police team that witnessed the buy.
McCaster was afraid of how he might be perceived by a jury at trial. So he pleaded guilty in 2018 to the lesser charge of possession with intent to distribute. He was sentenced to 10 years’ probation and ordered to pay a $1,500 fine.
Without a trial, McCaster’s attorney did not have the opportunity to question the informant involved in his case. McCaster’s case is one of dozens involving a confidential informant and an impeached officer that was not reviewed by the DA.
McCaster received permission from the court to leave Glynn County and move to the Atlanta area to receive treatment. There, he got clean, found a support group and a job. He also met and married his wife.
Navigating life under the terms of probation was not easy. Few places would hire him, leaving McCaster with jobs that require heavy labor. That work has become more challenging since he sustained injuries on the job that ended with doctors amputating his foot due to complications stemming from his diabetes.
Nonetheless, McCaster says he was determined not to let his hardships break his spirit.
He is currently back in college studying to become a substance abuse counselor. He writes poetry as an emotional release and eagerly shares coping skills with others suffering from addiction.
Many of the elements that impeached the credibility of the officers involved in McCaster’s arrest were brought up in the Whittle hearings. His arrest hinged on the testimony of a tainted officer and a confidential informant. His plea agreement was made during the period of wrongdoing highlighted by Judge Lane’s order.
When a reporter explained how Whittle’s conviction had been vacated due to elements of police misconduct, McCaster was joyful that change might happen for him.
In the course of reporting the story of the DA’s lists, however, McCaster received the news many people on probation long to hear: His probationary sentence was formally ended early due to state criminal justice reforms in 2021. He became a free man.
He remains wary of Glynn County, however, returning to Brunswick only for rare visits with his mother. Interactions with Glynn County police have left him traumatized, he said.
“Every time I go there, I go nowhere. I stay in the house, or we might go out to eat, but I am always with my wife or my mom or somebody else. I will never be by myself while I’m in Brunswick, Georgia,” said McCaster.
This story comes to GPB through a reporting partnership with The Current.
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