Padres’ Hoyt Receives 45-Day Jail Sentence; Prosecution Unhappy

Pitcher LaMarr Hoyt of the San Diego Padres was sentenced to 45 days in federal prison on drug charges here Tuesday, despite a recommendation by the prosecuting attorney for more prison time.

Hoyt will be out of prison before spring training begins and could pitch the entire 1987 season if Baseball Commissioner Peter Ueberroth does not suspend him.

Ueberroth said he would make an announcement on Hoyt in about two weeks.

Last month, Hoyt, who was arrested Oct. 28 on suspicion of importing controlled pills across the San Ysidro border from Mexico into the United States, plea-bargained the two felony charges against him down to misdemeanors. He also agreed to serve a sentence ranging from 60 days to a year.

Prosecuting attorney Pat Swan, who had recommended a four-month sentence, appeared shocked when Federal Magistrate Roger Curtis McKee handed down the 45-day sentence, fined Hoyt more than $10,000 and put him on a five-year probation, one provision of which calls for mandatory drug testing.

Swan would not comment immediately after leaving the courtroom but said later: “We bargained for that plea agreement, and we didn’t get what we bargained for. . . . We were thrown a curve.”

Hoyt’s attorney, Howard Frank, said that a judge has the right to sentence a defendant to less time than was agreed to in a plea bargain.

“The government’s (Swan’s) reaction is kind of like the kid who takes his bat and ball to the ballfield, doesn’t like the way the game is played and takes his bat and ball home,” Frank said.

Swan said that he has four options:

--Ask Judge McKee to reconsider.

--Appeal the sentence to the district court.

--Present a case for felony indictment to the grand jury, and if an indictment is returned, litigate the enforceability of the plea agreement.

--Live with the sentence.

“We’ll know our plans in about a week,” Swan said.

Hoyt, who declined comment, will begin serving his sentence Jan. 5. He served two days in jail right after he was arrested, and they will be deducted from the time he must serve. Frank said he could also be released three or four days early for good behavior.

Frank recommended to McKee that Hoyt serve his time at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida, which is relatively close to Hoyt’s home in South Carolina. The Bureau of Prisons, however, will decide where Hoyt will go.

Besides ordering the jail term and the probation, Judge McKee also called for Hoyt to pay $10,050 in fines for possession of Valium tablets and the pain-killer propoxyphene, to refrain from using illegal drugs during probation, to refrain from excessive use of alcohol, to agree to have his car and/or home searched by probation officers, and to stay away from people known to be involved with drugs.

Frank explained to the court Hoyt’s reasons for going across the border to obtain Valium.

He said that Hoyt has had a sleeping problem for years, dating back to a troubled childhood in South Carolina. Hoyt’s parents were divorced when Hoyt was a year old. His father was granted custody of LaMarr, but Hoyt’s mother kidnaped the baby and took him to California. The father went after LaMarr, but the mother would not yield her baby.

The father then went back to South Carolina, quit his job, came back to California, stole LaMarr and dropped the baby off with his sister, Margaret Hiller.

The father became an alcoholic, and LaMarr grew up with his aunt, calling her Mom.

Later, when LaMarr was 18, his cousin--who also was his closest friend--was killed in a gun accident. Frank also pointed out in court that LaMarr was ridiculed by schoolmates for not having a real mother or a father to go home to.

Hoyt went on to become a major league pitcher and won the American League Cy Young Award with the Chicago White Sox in 1983, but personal problems resurfaced near the end of the 1985 season.

At the time, he had injured his pitching shoulder and began wondering about his future. Also, his wife, Sylvia, had asked for a divorce. He slept less and a doctor in South Carolina, Samuel Shannon, prescribed Valium to help him sleep.

In February of 1986, he went to Mexico to buy more. He was caught at the border with the pills and marijuana cigarettes, which Frank said were also used to help Hoyt sleep.

The Padres sent Hoyt to the Hazelden Foundation, a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center in Minneapolis, where he spent 30 days. According to Frank, he left no better off than he had been when he entered. Frank said that Hoyt needed “one on one” attention and that Hazelden is known for its group therapy.

Meanwhile, Hoyt made it through the 1986 season, a poor one for him. He had an 8-11 record with a 5.15 earned-run average. A reconciliation with his wife had failed, and his shoulder still was sore. In the days before his October arrest, Frank said, Hoyt was sleeping “a half hour to an hour a night.”

He had no Valium and decided to get some.

Frank said that for Hoyt to go to Mexico for the Valium had been “stupid and irrational.”

“This was a man in trouble,” Frank told the court. “Almost as if he was saying, ‘Here I am, come and get me. Arrest me. I need help!’ There’s no way a person acting rationally could have done what he did.”

Frank said that Hoyt had gone three or four days without sleep before the arrest.

“What he did was the result of impaired judgment,” Frank said. “The man was sick, suffering from a medical illness caused by significant emotional problems. . . . This is no drug addict. Are we talking about party time drug use? No. We’re not talking about heroine or cocaine or LSD.”

After the arrest, Frank sent Hoyt to Thomas Rodgers, a psychologist whose specialty is working with criminals’ psychiatric problems.

“He is totally a different person now, after working with Dr. Rodgers,” Frank said. “ . . . If Mr. Hoyt had met Dr. Rodgers in February or March, we wouldn’t be standing here.”

Hoyt and his wife are back together, but Rodgers said: “Our work is just beginning. We’re not done. We’ve just started a process to try to get this guy back on his feet.”

After Frank had finished his 20-minute recitation of Hoyt’s troubled past, Hoyt stood before the court and said, in part: “I’d like to apologize. . . . I let a lot of people down and I’m not proud of it. . . . I promise I’ll show you (the judge) and the people in the country that I can be a productive and law-abiding citizen.”

It was then that Swan suggested a four-month sentence, and it was then that Frank practically screamed in protest.

Touching Hoyt on the arm, Frank said: “I can’t believe that anyone can say that this man standing here hasn’t gotten the message. He’s got the message, and he’ll have the message for the rest of his life. He’ll live with this every single day of his career. Every day he walks into a ballpark, the fans won’t let him forget. To say he needs 120 days is ridiculous.”