SPRINGFIELD - A federal jury rejected claims from a Clinton attorney Thursday that DeWitt County Sheriff Roger Massey acted improperly when he requested a search warrant of the lawyer's home and office in 2003 as part of a multi-county burglary investigation. | Lawyer: Search violated rights

Dodie Junkert sought $1 million in damages from the sheriff over the search of her home for drugs and stolen computers. Junkert turned over one laptop computer and told police where they could find a second computer in January 2003 after Massey asked her about the items.

Junkert was arrested on charges related to trace amounts of cocaine found at her home and the two computers she said were given to her by a client in exchange for legal fees. Police learned of the computers from interviews with a confidential source. He said he was told about Junkert from a client.

Charges against Junkert were dropped after a trial ended in a hung jury and she agreed to stop practicing law for several months.

The federal panel deliberated about an hour before returning with its decision.

After the verdict, Massey said, "We felt comfortable from the beginning that everyone operated within the law. We took special steps to make sure of that because we were dealing with an officer of the court."

Junkert declined to comment.

In closing arguments Thursday, Junkert's lawyer, Kenneth Flaxman, said Massey and Sixth Judicial Circuit Judge John Shonkwiler were wrong to approve the search warrant issued after the two computers had been returned to police.

"When you look at the warrant, the police - Massey - went too far," said Flaxman.

Massey's lawyer, David Bailie, argued that police tried to play by the rules by making sure the informant's information was reliable. The informant brought back several weapons to police that were stolen as part of Operation RIngbuster, a burglary case spanning several central Illinois counties, he said.

The informant is serving time in federal prison on weapons charges. In a deposition read in court, he denied telling police the damaging information about Junkert.