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Bridgeburner
Not spiritual at all.




Registered: 09/16/06
Posts: 20,010
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Pot dealer gets six-year prison term
#7693671 - 11/29/07 05:24 AM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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http://knoxnews.com/news/2007/nov/29/pot-dealer-gets-six-year-prison-term/
When it comes to bribery attempts, timing is everything.
Just ask Jody Michael Hubbs, 28, a marijuana dealer whose bid to get a lawman to help him funnel money to a federal judge in hopes of getting his supplier a break wound up instead earning Hubbs a break.
"He's found a loophole here," First Assistant U.S. Attorney Mike Winck said at a hearing Tuesday in U.S. District Court.
Because Hubbs made his bribery pitch during his involvement in a drug conspiracy with a Blount County family of pot suppliers, Winck said that state conviction could not count against Hubbs in determining his federal fate.
That meant Hubbs qualified for a sentencing break reserved for first-time criminals, something known as the "safety valve" under federal law.
"He shouldn't have received the safety valve," Winck told U.S. District Judge Tom Varlan.
Without the safety valve, Hubbs would have been facing a minimum mandatory 10-year prison term. Instead, he walked away Tuesday with a six-year prison sentence.
According to Winck and state court records, Hubbs bought more marijuana from Donald Harmon and his pot-supplying relatives than any other customer of the Blount County clan.
So Hubbs was naturally upset when Harmon wound up arrested on a federal drug charge in September 2005, worried enough that he sought help for his supplier from an unlikely source - veteran Knox County Sheriff's Office drug investigator David Henderson.
In January 2006, Hubbs offered to pay Henderson if the lieutenant would funnel money to U.S. District Judge Thomas Phillips to cut Harmon some sentencing slack. Hubbs cited a bribe amount of "$10,000 to $15,000," court records showed.
Henderson responded by ordering an arrest of Hubbs, who wound up pleading to a misdemeanor. All the while, Winck said, Hubbs was dealing pounds upon pounds of pot.
In June 2006, federal authorities nabbed Hubbs via a reverse sting involving 100 pounds of the illegal weed. They seized $65,000 from Hubbs. He agreed to cooperate and was allowed to go free to work as a snitch.
"Thereafter, he got back in the drug business," Winck said.
Seven months later, Hubbs was again nabbed by authorities. This time, authorities seized 34 pounds of pot and some $51,000 in drug money. Now facing the ire of Winck for his snitch double-trick, Hubbs agreed to set up the Harmon clan.
Defense attorney Bruce Poston noted Hubbs did so from a jail cell, convincing Donald Harmon, still free on bond in a separate federal case, to deliver 150 pounds of marijuana. That deal would ultimately take down not only the Harmon family but also lead to the indictment of the clan's Mexican suppliers.
Poston urged Varlan to undercut Winck's sentencing request, arguing Hubbs earned a break through his clean record and work as an informant.
"The safety valve? He earned that by his lack of criminal history and telling the government everything he knew," Poston argued.
Varlan stuck with Winck's recommendation.
"(Hubbs) continued criminal conduct even after his (first) arrest," Varlan noted.
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johnm214



Registered: 05/31/07
Posts: 17,582
Loc: Americas
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Re: Pot dealer gets six-year prison term [Re: Bridgeburner]
#7693687 - 11/29/07 05:52 AM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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Another win for prohibition! There will be no more pot in that area for six years!
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LoWgRoW
Strange



Registered: 09/22/07
Posts: 296
Last seen: 6 years, 11 months
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Re: Pot dealer gets six-year prison term [Re: johnm214]
#7694302 - 11/29/07 10:25 AM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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Quote:
johnm214 said: Another win for prohibition! There will be no more pot in that area for six years!
not true! someone will always step in, but prices will be higher. So the cops just made more for the other suppliers!!! Yippee for the crime syndicate!
-------------------- Avoid negative people.
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Le_Canard
The Duk Abides


Registered: 05/16/03
Posts: 94,392
Loc: Earthfarm 1
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Re: Pot dealer gets six-year prison term [Re: Bridgeburner]
#7694350 - 11/29/07 10:42 AM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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Even with the break, 6 years is a pretty stiff penalty.
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grimR
hippiousmaximous



Registered: 03/29/06
Posts: 1,235
Loc: North America
Last seen: 7 years, 10 months
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Re: Pot dealer gets six-year prison term [Re: Le_Canard]
#7694604 - 11/29/07 12:19 PM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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yeah I figured they meant suspended... but the feds do that kinda shit... no breaks
-------------------- - grimR -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- http://egolost.com "I am already given to the power that rules my fate. And I cling to nothing, so I will have nothing to defend. I have no thoughts, so I will see. I fear nothing, so I will remember myself." - Don Juan teachings
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