The State : Drug Conviction Upset

A federal appeals court in San Francisco threw out the convictions of flamboyant Oakland drug dealer Felix Mitchell Jr. because he was slain in Leavenworth federal prison last August before his appeal could be heard. Mitchell was convicted in 1985 on numerous federal drug-related charges that resulted in his sentence of life in prison without possibility of parole. “The result makes a hero and a martyr out of a heroin dealer, and we don’t think that is right,” said Assistant U.S. Atty. Sanford Svetcov, adding that prosecutors would seek a rehearing and ask to petition the Supreme Court if necessary. Mitchell, 32, was stabbed to death, apparently over a $10 debt. His coffin was carried on a horse-drawn carriage followed by 14 Cadillacs and Rolls-Royces in his funeral in Oakland. He headed a heroin ring called the 69 Mob that U.S. District Judge Marilyn Patel called the most violent she had encountered.