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. - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D