Pubdate: Sun, 02 Sep 2001 Source: Knoxville News-Sentinel (TN) Copyright: 2001 The Knoxville News-Sentinel Co. Contact: http://www.knoxnews.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/226 Author: Laura Ayo, News-Sentinel staff writer Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration) JUDGE CALLS DRUG WAR AN 'EXERCISE IN FUTILITY' U.S. District Judge James Jarvis told U.S. Attorney David Folmar last week that his efforts to prosecute cases didn't seem to be doing any good in the overall war on drugs. "It's an exercise in futility," the judge said after presiding over his seventh hearing of the day that involved drug dealing or some form of drug use. Folmar said statements from Steven A. Neely that there's still a lot of cocaine out there disturbed him. "I'm indicting every case that comes through the door," Folmar told Jarvis. "It's not doing any good," Jarvis noted. "You're working night and day. It's not our fault. We've put them all in jail, and it's not stopping it." The judge's comments came after he sentenced Neely to a year and four months in prison, a $500 fine and five years of supervised release on a drug offense. "Maybe people will figure it out," Jarvis said. "It's ruining them and hurting the country." * * * Jarvis told a Knoxville man last week that he was surprised the man was involved with crack cocaine at his age. "I believe you're the oldest person I know of involved in crack cocaine," Jarvis told Wallace Edward Isom, 64. "Most your age are dead." Isom, a retiree who said he was at the wrong place at the wrong time, pleaded guilty to two counts of possession with intent to distribute 5 grams or more of crack. Isom admitted to the Knoxville Police Department on Dec. 12 that he had "been working the block" in the Five Points area of Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue and Spruce Street for about two years, according to his plea agreement papers. The officers found 10.9 grams of crack in Isom's pockets after receiving information that an individual was selling drugs in the area, the papers state. They found 13 grams of crack in Isom's vehicle July 17 at the same location. Isom, who will remain free on a $20,000 bond pending a later sentencing, faces up to 40 years in prison and a $2 million fine on each count. * * * A convicted kidnapper already facing murder charges has pleaded innocent to unrelated federal armed robbery and gun charges. George Willie Buford, aliases Ya-Insaan Hetep and "Sandman," 34, entered the innocent pleas last week before U.S. Magistrate Thomas Phillips to seven counts of armed robbery of a business, seven counts of using a .44-caliber revolver during the commission of a robbery and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm. The robberies, according to the indictment, occurred over a week's period in June 1998. The businesses included gas stations, convenience stores and fast-food restaurants. Phillips set trial for Nov. 7. Buford, who has kidnapping and aggravated assault convictions, is also set for trial Dec. 11 in Knox County Criminal Court on first-degree murder and especially aggravated robbery charges stemming from the April 19, 1998, shooting death of Dennis Ray King, 33, according to court records. Buford will remain in custody pending trial on the federal charges. * * * A resident alien from Mexico admitted last week in court papers to breaking down 50 to 60 pounds of marijuana at his Blaine residence on three different occasions. Isidro Botello Moreno, aliases Isidro Botello and Chelo, 32, pleaded guilty before Jarvis to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute 100 to 400 kilograms of marijuana between January 1997 and May 2000. Moreno also arranged for the transportation of marijuana from Texas to Harriman and Knoxville in PCV tubes, according to his plea agreement papers and other court documents. Moreno, who has lived in the United States for about 16 years, also agreed to forfeit about $68,900, the property, a 1996 Chevrolet pickup truck, a revolver, a .22-caliber pistol and nine boxes of ammunition, which were seized from him June 26, according to the papers. The FBI investigated the case, Assistant U.S. Attorney Hugh Ward said. * * * Jarvis sentenced a Sneedville man last week to four years in prison and a $5,000 fine for supplying multiple-pound quantities of marijuana to another man over a five-year period. "I just made some bad judgments," James Howard Livesay told the judge. Jarvis accepted Folmar's recommendation for a lower sentence than called for by guidelines. The judge also imposed eight years of supervised release, which Livesay will have to serve after his prison term. Livesay admitted in his plea agreement papers to distributing 35 to 40 pounds of pot about every two months from 1997 to 1999 or 2000. He has two felony drug convictions and one felony gun conviction out of Grainger County in 1991, court records show. - --- MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager