City Desk

At the death-penalty trial of alleged drug kingpin Tommy Edelin in District Court last week, one witness found herself battered by questions about an incident involving the Metropolitan Police Department, carnal knowledge, and fried chicken. In the course of Laverne Holmes’ testimony detailing her own involvement in Edelin’s alleged drug enterprise, the witness dropped a bomb: Roughly two years ago, she was allowed to have sex at police headquarters with her incarcerated boyfriend, Eric Jones. According to Holmes, Jones—who also testified against Edelin in the trial—called her up and asked her to meet him at the detectives’ offices downtown. When Holmes showed up with a bucket of KFC (Original Recipe) in hand, a detective uncuffed Jones and then told the two lovebirds that he was going “down the hall” and would return in 30 minutes. “Then we had sex,” stated Holmes. “And after we had sex, Eric ate his chicken.” One defense attorney attempted to hammer the nonchalant Holmes, asking her if the couple’s HQ assignation was part of her plea agreement or an added perk. “It wasn’t a benefit to me,” replied Holmes, to titters from the courtroom crowd. “It was a benefit to Eric.” —Jason Cherkis