Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, August 26, 1993 TAG: 9308260190
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Carlos D. Crouse, 21, was convicted of possession of cocaine with intent to distribute after a daylong trial in Roanoke Circuit Court.
Based on lengthy sentences that other juries have handed down in past crack cases, defense attorney Al Wilson called the seven-year term and $6,000 fine "well below the average jury verdict."
Jurors indicated during deliberations that they were having trouble reaching an agreement on Crouse's punishment, but did not elaborate.
Crouse was arrested in November on 11th Street Northwest - by accident.
Roanoke police mistook him for another man who was under indictment on crack charges and chased him for several blocks.
It wasn't until after they had apprehended Crouse and patted him down to check for weapons - finding the cocaine in his sock instead - that police realized they had the wrong man.
By then, it didn't matter.
Crouse was charged with possession of cocaine with intent to distribute, a crime punishable by five to 40 years in prison.
In testimony Wednesday, Crouse said he found the drugs on 11th Street and had planned to keep them for his personal use.
But Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Joel Branscom asked jurors to consider that Crouse was found carrying $90 in cash and two beepers - "tools of the trade" for many drug dealers.
With Crouse admitting that the cocaine was his, Branscom said the case boiled down to one simple issue:
"This case is really about what the community is going to do to people who are on the street selling cocaine," he told the jury.
Wilson asked the jury to convict his client of simple possession, which carries no more than 10 years in prison.
"This was a crime that was committed because he was an addict," Wilson said, "not because he intended to harm society."
Most of the crack dealers who appear daily in Roanoke courtrooms plead guilty. Trials are rare because city juries have a reputation for handing down stiff sentences to crack dealers.
Crouse was only the second crack dealer to be convicted by a Roanoke jury this year. In January, a jury recommended 45 years in prison for a man who sold three rocks of crack to an undercover police officer.
Crouse, who has been convicted once before of a cocaine offense, will be eligible for parole after serving less than two years, Branscom said.
by CNB