Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, June 2, 1990 TAG: 9006020187
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Calvin Lawrence told U.S. Judge Jackson Kiser that he had been treated unfairly and that crucial information had been withheld from the jury that convicted him in December.
Reading from a paper titled "Ethical Conduct," Lawrence said that since his arrest, he has witnessed the "unethical manipulations" of the court.
"Deception, disregard for the law and unaccountability have been allowed to succeed," Lawrence read.
Kiser stopped him in midsentence.
"You wouldn't even talk to the probation officer, and now you're telling me that everything has been done wrong?" Kiser asked. "You want me to think that you have been mistreated?"
Lawrence's attorney, John Fishwick Jr., asked Kiser to consider giving Lawrence a point credit on his sentence for acceptance of responsibility. Kiser refused.
"You have not yet accepted responsibility," Kiser said. "You are convinced this has been a frame-up job and that you are not guilty."
Lawrence was charged last year with five counts of conspiracy to distribute five or more grams of crack cocaine, manufacturing and distributing crack and possessing with intent to distribute the drug.
Authorities arrested Lawrence last July at a Troutville motel. They learned that Lawrence had traveled to the Roanoke area from New York bringing five to six ounces of powdered cocaine.
The cocaine was later converted into crack, which was to be distributed in Roanoke by a man and a woman he had befriended.
One ounce of cocaine was found hidden in decorative rocks outside a fast-food restaurant in Troutville.
by CNB