LITTLE ROCK — The co-leader of a sprawling drug ring that dealt hundreds of pounds of cocaine and marijuana in eastern Arkansas was sentenced to 22 years in federal prison Wednesday.
Leon Bernard Edwards pleaded guilty in April to jointly heading the drug trafficking conspiracy, run largely out of a Helena-West Helena auto shop.
U.S. District Judge James M. Moody ordered Edwards to serve the 264-month sentence, which reflected the amount of drugs Edwards admitted to dealing - between 110 pounds and 330 pounds of cocaine - and his No. 2 position in the drug ring that he ran along with Sedrick “Binky” Trice. Edwards’ sentence will be followed by five years of supervised release.
Edwards, 35, and Trice, 28, have both admitted to directing a multi-state conspiracy that moved large amounts of crack cocaine, powder cocaine, marijuana and other controlled substances throughout the impoverished Arkansas Delta, Mississippi and Tennessee.
Edwa rd s and Trice,who is now serving a 40-year prison sentence for his role, have also admitted to paying police officers to warn them of police raids, make warrants “disappear” and intervene on behalf of a fellow conspirator during an arrest, according to their plea agreements.
Edwards’ sentencing came the same day as the sentencing of another man, Kentrell Starks, who is charged in the same 94-count indictment.
The indictment was one of seven handed up last October that capped the first phase of an FBI-led drug trafficking and public-corruption investigation dubbed Operation Delta Blues. The indictments resulted in the arrest of about 70 people, including five police officers.
Four of those police officers have since pleaded guilty. The fifth, former Helena-West Helena police Lt. Marlene Kalb, is to be tried in December.
During a hearing at the federal courthouse in Little Rock, Edwards stood before Moody dressed in a white buttondown shirt and apologized to the judge for his crimes. He then turned to his family seated in the courtroom.
“I apologize to y’all. I learned my lesson in the nine months and two weeks [of his incarceration],” Edwards said. “I learned a big lesson.”
His attorney, Lance Sullenberger, asked Moody to consider a lower sentence because Edwards had accepted responsibility for his crime and had only one previous conviction, a drug offense for which he received probation.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Julie Peters agreed that Edwards’ criminal history was relatively meager, but said that should be outweighed by his role atop the drug ring that also employed a number of firearms, including handguns, semiautomatic rifles and a weapon referred to as a “Tommy Gun,” as protection at various drug dealing sites.
“He’s one of two leaders of this conspiracy. ... That makes him a leader in the demise of Helena-West Helena and Phillips County because of the amount of drugs that he’s funneled into that area,” Peters said in asking that Edwards receive the 22-year sentence.
In response, Moody stood by the sentence, noting it was already close to the bottomof the recommended range of prison terms under federal sentencing guidelines.
The sentencing guidelines recommended a sentence of 262 to 327 months in prison, although Edwards faced up to life imprisonment for his admitted charge of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute more than 11 pounds of cocaine mixture.
Moody recommended that Edwards serve his sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution in Forrest City though the recommendation isn’t binding. Edwards will be 57 when he gets out of prison. The federal system does not have parole.
Edwards’ sentencing came a few hours after Moody sentenced Starks, who was indicted under the name “Kendall Starks” in the Delta Blues investigation.
Starks, 32, had earlier pleaded guilty to a charge of using a telephone in the furtherance of a drug crime and admitted to arranging a drug deal during a call with Trice. As part of a plea agreement, Starks took responsibility for 1 to 4 ounces of cocaine.
During a midday hearing, Starks also apologized for his role in the conspiracy led by Trice and Edwards.
“I want to apologize to my family, my children, you, Judge Moody, and the courtroom for being here under these circumstances,” Starks said dressed in a tweed suit.
“I took the wrong direction in my life, and ever since this happened last year ... I realized that this was hurting my family,” he said. “I plead for the mercy of the court and that I will never, ever take this direction again.”
Starks’ attorney, Vandell Bland, asked Moody to “give this young man a chance to salvage his life.” Bland pointedto several letters of support for his client, including one from his employer.
In response, Peters agreed that Starks showed promise of not re-offending.
“He really has the materials to turn it around,” she said, referring to his good grades in high school and college.
Moody said he was persuaded by Starks’ behavior before imposing a two-year sentence followed by a year of supervised release. The sentence was below the recommended prison time under federal sentencing guidelines.
“I want you to understand I’m giving you what I think is a second opportunity to prove yourself because I could have given you a sentence of twice that,” Moody said.
“If you come before a court again ... you’re not going to get this kind of break,” he added.
Arkansas, Pages 9 on 07/26/2012