Due to a life-threatening illness, a man affiliated with the founder of a notorious Little Rock street gang avoided prison Friday but will instead serve three years on supervised release with credit for time already served in federal custody related to federal drug charges.
In exchange for that guilty plea, U.S. District Judge Kristine G. Baker dismissed narcotics conspiracy and weapons charges that were pending against Dewquan Marquis Johns, 43, of Little Rock. Those charges could have landed him in prison for 20 years or more if convicted.
Instead, he faced a potential sentence range of 21 to 27 months in prison and three years to life of supervised release for pleading guilty to one count of possession with intent to distribute and distribution of cocaine hydrochloride.
Johns was tied to the indictment of Clifton Thomas, who the U.S. attorney's office identified as a founder of the Bloods-affiliated gang Real Hustlers Incorporated, as well as 12 other co-defendants. Eight of those defendants have been sentenced to terms ranging from 37 to 77 months in federal prison. The other five, including Thomas, have pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing.
The gang started as the Monroe Street Hustlers but changed its name to Real Hustlers Incorporated "due to mounting and unwanted attention from" Little Rock police, the office said in a statement. The gang has ties to numerous shootings in Little Rock that killed innocent victims and wounded children, authorities said.
Johns, through his attorney, Adam Childers of North Little Rock, asked Baker to consider probation or a time-served sentence followed with a term of supervised release, citing Johns' precarious health.
Johns' wife told Baker that he suffers from stage 5 kidney disease and renal failure and will be placed on a transplant list provided he stays free of nicotine and illegal drugs until December.
"We started this kidney situation about a year-and-a-half ago," Johns' wife, Crystal Slaughter, told Baker. "It's been a real tough issue to deal with. He hasn't been able to work; he has dialysis three days a week."
Slaughter, along with Johns' mother and brother, told Baker that Johns had changed since his indictment and subsequent diagnosis of kidney disease and had accepted responsibility and shown genuine remorse for his crimes. They all described him as a loving father who has been engaged and involved with his children.
Childers said that Johns' record of stable employment, his family ties and his medical issues all justified allowing him to avoid prison and he pointed out that only two federal facilities -- in Missouri and in Massachusetts -- are equipped to deal with kidney conditions as serious as Johns'.
"Those are the two facilities that actually do dialysis for kidney issues," Childers said. "In addition to that, he was in custody for eight months, from February to October of 2018, I believe. Those are the reasons we are asking for that variance."
In court, Johns and the judge exchanged pleasantries, with Baker asking how he was doing.
"Oh, I'm making it, I'm happy this day is..." Johns began. "I didn't want to see it come, but I'm glad it came and I can get this behind me."
Johns expressed appreciation to the court for allowing him to remain free while awaiting sentencing, and he thanked his attorney and Assistant U.S. Attorney Anne Gardner for working on his plea agreement.
"I made a bad choice, and I have to pay for it," he said. "I understand that, and I didn't really want my mother, my wife and my brother to come up here speaking for me because they aren't responsible for my actions. I am."
Gardner objected to a variance below the sentencing guidelines and asked for a prison sentence between 21 and 27 months. She said Johns was a drug supplier to multiple people involved in the current indictment, and that he had initially been charged with possessing firearms and drugs at the same time.
"The only reason he got such a lenient plea is because of his health," Gardner said.
Information for this article was contributed by Ryan Tarinelli for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.