Sherell Brown testified today that she drove to the gas station on the day in question to buy cocaine from Erin Jenkins, McKown's former girlfriend and the woman police say was the initial focus of their investigation.

Brown, 34, said Jenkins and McKown showed up at the convenience store where she had arranged to meet Jenkins.

McKown stopped at the gas pumps while Jenkins got into Brown's Nissan Pathfinder. Jenkins sold the cocaine to Brown for $150. Drug agents who worked with Brown to set up the deal recorded the transaction on video.

The cocaine was packaged in a plastic bag inside a cigarette pack. After the drugs and money were exchanged, Brown got out of the vehicle and hugged McKown.

"How would you describe his demeanor?" prosecutor Dale Scott asked Brown in court today.

"Nervous," she said. "He was very standoffish."

Brown testified that she was a friend of Jenkins and the two sold drugs to each other, although she said she is now clean.

Brown said she agreed to work with police after authorities caught her husband with marijuana. She cooperated for her family, she said

Among the opening statements in McKown's trial today, state prosecutors claimed he lived two lives: one as a public official and another as an aid in a drug deal.

But McKown's attorney adamantly insists his client is not guilty of the drug offenses he's accused of, and the case against McKown relies heavily upon details from people who received deals from prosecutors in exchange for their assistance.

The suspended York County coroner is accused of four drug-related charges.

The early stages of the trial already have featured heated exchanges between attorneys. Jack Swerling, McKown's lawyer, even asked the judge to grant a mistrial after prosecutor Dale Scott asked Marvin Brown, the chief investigator in the case, if he believed a statement written by McKown's former girlfriend, Erin Jenkins, who police say was the initial target of the drug investigation.

Brown said he believed Jenkins.

Swerling vehemently objected and contended that one witness is not allowed to vouch for the credibility of another witness.

Judge Paul Burch denied Swerling's request for a mistrial, but advised the jury to disregard the question and answer.

Earlier today, Burch ruled that a search warrant that allowed drug agents to search McKown's home in 2006 is legal.

Burch agreed with state prosecutors' arguments today that York County narcotics officers had probable cause to search McKown's Clover home in May 2006.

McKown's attorney, Swerling, had asked that Burch toss the warrant because the information contained in the document did not indicate that police would find drugs in McKown‚s home.

McKown, 39, was suspended from his position as York County coroner in July 2006 after he was indicted on three drug charges.

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