Pubdate: Wed, 05 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

FARMER FORCED TO RETURN TO PRISON

Lenient Sentence Overridden On Charges Of Growing Marijuana

About 19 months ago, a Madisonville farmer completed a federal prison 
sentence for manufacturing marijuana. Since then, he's worked odd jobs and 
helped take care of his elderly father, while serving his supervised 
release, his lawyer said.

But Jackson C. "Jack" O'Dell III, 54, will be going back to prison to serve 
what a federal appeals court says is the sentence U.S. District Judge Leon 
Jordan should have imposed originally.

Jordan resentenced O'Dell on Tuesday to a five-year prison term - the 
minimum term required by law for the marijuana offense. The judge 
originally sentenced O'Dell to an 18-month prison term in July 1999.

But in April, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Jordan improperly 
found that O'Dell had cooperated enough with authorities to benefit from a 
provision in federal sentencing guidelines that allows sentences lower than 
the minimum mandated by statute.

While O'Dell will get credit for the 18 months he's already spent in 
prison, Jordan said it wasn't up to him whether O'Dell could also be 
credited for the time he has been serving his supervised release.

"Based on the mandate of the 6th Circuit, this court is limited to sentence 
Mr. O'Dell to the minimum mandatory (term)," Jordan said. "I'm aware of the 
fact that he's served 18 months already and he's served 19 months on 
supervised release and those records are available to the (U.S.) Bureau of 
Prisons."

Defense attorney Herbert S. Moncier had asked Jordan for the supervised 
release credit. He also argued sending O'Dell back to prison violated his 
client's due process rights and the right to be free from cruel and unusual 
punishment.

Moncier argued it wasn't right that O'Dell pay the price for relying on the 
advice of his lawyer and the ruling of a federal judge.

"He's the one who walks back to Manchester, Kentucky," Moncier said, 
referring to the federal prison where O'Dell served his 18 months.

But Assistant U.S. Attorney Steve Cook argued there wasn't anything cruel 
or unusual about O'Dell serving a prison term mandated by law, especially 
when compared to some drug offenses that carry much stiffer penalties.

Authorities began investigating O'Dell's involvement in drug trafficking in 
August 1991, executing search warrants at a 171-acre farm in Monroe County 
and at O'Dell's Madisonville home on Aug. 15. They found more than 200 
marijuana plants being cultivated in three rooms of a barn.

Although O'Dell admitted that day that the plants were his, a series of 
plea negotiations, appeals, changes in the law, questions about whether 
O'Dell's father and sons were involved with the illegal activity, disputes 
over who owned the barn and more appeals dragged the case out for years. 
Jordan has previously noted it is the longest criminal case he had dealt 
with in his career.

Cook also told Jordan that the evidence indicates O'Dell was also involved 
in a substantial cocaine-trafficking operation prior to his 1991 arrest.

"I'm sympathetic towards him (O'Dell)," Jordan said in denying Moncier's 
motion regarding cruel and unusual punishment.
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