LITTLE ROCK — A federal judge ordered a 30-year prison sentence Wednesday for a convicted murderer and drug-ring leader from Marianna who admitted he bribed his parole officer for years in order to continue selling crack cocaine in the Arkansas Delta.
Torrence Turner, 38, was sentenced after U.S. District Judge James M. Moody accepted the man’s plea agreement, which detailed the illicit arrangement with the parole officer as well as the scope of the drug-trafficking conspiracy that Turner led.
Turner, who was convicted of first-degree murder in 1995, has admitted he dealt more than 100 pounds of crack and powder cocaine during a nearly two-year span beginning in 2010.
Turner’s hearing came on the same day that one of his co-defendants, Anthony Hall, 25, was sentenced to 64 months in federal prison.
Hall also has admitted that he paid the same probation and parole officer, Roxanne Davis, while he was on probation for drug offenses. Davis is awaiting trial on bribery charges that are based in part on detailed statements from Turner and Hall.
Turner and Hall were arrested as part of the sweeping FBI-led drug-trafficking and public-corruption investigation known as OperationDelta Blues that culminated with the mass arrest of nearly 70 people, including five law enforcement officers, on Oct. 11, 2011. All five officers have since pleaded guilty or been convicted of various crimes involving public corruption.
During a late morning hearing, Moody referred to Turner’s purported arrangement with Davis, who was indicted separately and - about a year after - the five other officers.
“You agreed essentially that you were paying a probation/parole officer thousands and thousands of dollars so you could continue your illegal activities,” Moody said as Turner slightly nodded his head.
Moody then asked Turner if he would like to address the court.
At first, Turner declined, saying, “All the wind got out of me.”
But he quickly reconsidered.
“Well, I will say something ... You live by the sword. You die by the sword. Times are hard,” he said, noting that during his life, he had done both good and bad things.
“But the clock do stop, and sometimes it do catch up with you,” he said.
Turner, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine, then told Moody he had learned his lesson and would be “comfortable” serving his time.
In response, Moody formally accepted the plea agreement that carried a binding 360-month sentence to be followed by five years of supervised release.
“Having thoroughly reviewed all of this, I’m satisfiedthat this is a fair sentence,” Moody said.
The sentence fell within the range of 324 to 405 months in prison recommended by federal sentencing guidelines. The recommendation was based on Turner’s criminal history and the severity of his illegal conduct.
Turner, who is known as “Hot Shot,” admitted that he dealt between 110 and 330 pounds of powder cocaine as well as more than 6 pounds of crack cocaine between January 2010 and October 2011, according to court records.
During that time, Turner bribed his parole officer with cash, gifts and shoes in exchange for her turning a blind eye to his drug use and trafficking, court records show. The arrangement started in 2007, shortly after he was paroled from the Arkansas Department of Correction, Turner has said.
Turner had been serving a 38-year prison sentence ordered in 1995 for killing Lee Andrew Lemmons during an armed robbery in Crittenden County.
Between 2007 and 2011, Turner made payments to Davis that “ranged from approximately $50 to $800 sometimes represented by the state parole/probation officer to be for expenses such as the officer’s mortgage, car note, birthday, plane tickets and salon trips,” according to his plea agreement.
Since her arrest, Davis has resigned her position with the Arkansas Department of Community Correction.
In a plea made the same day as Turner’s on Sept. 17, Hall also admitted he bribed Davis, though in much smaller amounts. The bribes allowed Hall to keep selling drugs without Davis’ interference.
According to his plea agreement, Hall visited Davisonce a month, and at times, he was accompanied by a group of other probationers from the Marianna area. If he was by himself, Hall paid Davis $20 to $30 during a typical visit. During other occasions, the group of probationers pooled their money for the bribe, often totaling $100 to $150, court documents show.
“If Hall didn’t have enough cash to pay his [probation] fees, he would still give Davis a few dollars,” according to his plea agreement.
On Wednesday, Hall, who is known as “Lil A,” declined to speak before Moody imposed a sentence in the middle of the federal sentencing guidelines range of 60 to 71 months in prison.
Hall, who had earlier pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine, took responsibility for between 1.1 and 4.4 pounds of cocaine.
Hall’s attorney, Bill Luppen, argued for his client to be sentenced at the low end of the guideline range because of his age and good behavior in jail since his arrest.
“Mr. Hall was very young when this occurred,” Luppen said. “He’s been a model prisoner, and I think he’s on the road to never to do this again.”
In her response, Assistant U.S. Attorney Julie Peters argued that the seriousness of Hall’s drug crime warranted a sentence higher than the minimum, but she acknowledged that Hall’s youth and his purported arrangement with Davis called for prison time near the middle of therecommended range.
“During the time that he was on probation for his [state] drug offense, he was basically being extorted by his probation officer,” Peters said.
Arkansas, Pages 9 on 02/14/2013