Ex-OSBI agent describes the mood at Cherokee headquarters in 1997 at a civil trial.

Bob Powell, a former Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation agent who was the tribe's inspector general at the time, said there was a feeling at tribal headquarters that a move was on to overthrow the government of then-Chief Joe Byrd.

Powell testified in a lawsuit brought by Marvin Summerfield of Jay and David Cornsilk of Tahlequah, who are seeking $1 million from four defendants on grounds that their telephone conversations were illegally wiretapped.

Defendants in the lawsuit are Byrd, who was defeated this year in his bid for another term; Rex Earl Starr, former tribal general counsel; Mark McCullough, part-owner in a Pryor smokeshop; and former Cherokee Nation Secretary-Treasurer Jennie Battles.

The defendants acknowledge that tapes of telephone conversations of Summerfield and Cornsilk were made available to the administration. However, they contend, the administration was not involved in illegal wiretapping. They have pointed the finger at Joel Thompson, the tribe's former housing authority executive director, who is serving federal prison time for embezzling federal funds.

Powell said the Feb. 25, 1997, raid by Cherokee Nation marshals on Byrd's headquarters caught the administration by surprise. The marshals were using a search warrant signed by a tribal supreme court justice to search for evidence of misuse of funds.

Three days later, Powell told the jury, McCullough came to his office with up to seven tape recordings of the telephone conversations of Summerfield, Cornsilk, former Cherokee Supreme Court Justice Dwight Birdwell, tribal Councilor Barbara Starr- Scott and others.

Powell said it appeared the tapes had been recorded illegally, but ``it was the icing on the cake . . . that some individuals wanted to make problems for the administration.'' of Feb. 28, 1997, before holding an afternoon press conference at which he said he had evidence of a conspiracy to overthrow his administration.

It was suspected, Powell said, that Marshal Service Director Pat Ragsdale, some members of the tribal council and, perhaps, the supreme court might be involved.

Rob Martindale, World senior writer, can be reached at 581-8367 or via e- mail at rob.martindale@tulsaworld.com.

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