Lehder Receives Life Sentence Plus 135 Years

A federal judge on Wednesday sentenced convicted Colombian cocaine kingpin Carlos Lehder to a maximum life sentence without parole plus 135 years as a sign of society’s determination to expunge “this cancer.”

U.S. District Judge Howell W. Melton brushed aside Lehder’s contention that he was a political prisoner.

Lehder, 38, who prosecutors called a key figure in the Medellin drug cartel that is said to be responsible for 80% of the Colombian cocaine coming into the United States, was convicted May 19 of importing 3.3 tons of cocaine into the country from his island smuggling headquarters in the Bahamas.

Melton imposed the harshest penalty possible under federal law over defense objections that it exceeded the maximum allowable under the U.S.-Colombia extradition treaty.

The sentence is “a message . . . a signal to our society that it will do everything it can to rid itself of this cancer,” Melton said.

Political Ambitions

During a 25-minute speech to the court prior to the sentencing, Lehder portrayed himself as a victim of the political ambitions of U.S. Atty. Robert Merkle, now a candidate for the Republican nomination for Florida’s U.S. Senate seat.

“I have been Mr. Merkle’s hostage,” Lehder said. “I’m a political prisoner. My arrest is illegal.”

But Melton, who earlier Wednesday sentenced Lehder’s co-defendant Jack Carlton Reed to 15 years in prison, said politics was not at the root of the case.

“You were not convicted because of your political beliefs, because you are a Colombian,” the judge said. “The truth of the matter is (the smuggling) was done for money . . . greed.

“I see no reason for you to ever be out of prison because you will simply return to crime,” Melton added.

Asked for Life Term

Prosecutors had asked for life without parole on the charge of running a continuing criminal enterprise, plus 15 years each on 10 drug-smuggling charges. But under the law one drug-smuggling charge had to be concurrent with the life sentence, leading to the 135-year total.

Lehder also will have to pay $350,000 in fines. Reed was fined $25,000 for his conviction on a single count of conspiracy to import cocaine.

Merkle’s replacement, U.S. Atty. Joe Magri, who attended the sentencing as a spectator, called Lehder “a cocaine narco-terrorist” and applauded the sentence.

“The judge fairly, justly and appropriately socked it to a hoodlum,” Magri said. The sentence “sends a clear message that we’re serious about stopping narcotics traffic.”

Defense attorneys Edward Shohat and Jose Quinon argued in a sentencing memorandum that Lehder’s prison time was limited by terms of the extradition agreement under which he was arrested and brought to this country.

Sought Parole Eligibility

This limited the maximum term on each count to 15 years for a total of 165 years with parole eligibility after the first 15, the defense claimed.

Testimony in the seven-month trial included allegations that Bahamian officials, including Prime Minister Lynden O. Pindling, helped Lehder and his smuggling organization run more than 20 tons of cocaine from Colombia through Norman’s Cay into deserted airstrips in Florida and Georgia.

Pindling and his aides have repeatedly denied the allegations.

Lehder was extradited to the United States last year following a gun battle and his arrest by the Colombian army at a plush mansion in Medellin, a city known for its cocaine trade.

He also is under indictment in Miami for his role in the cartel, and there is a sealed indictment against him in Los Angeles. But officials have said it is unlikely that he will be tried on those charges.

Reed, 57, of San Pedro, Calif., a pilot in the drug-smuggling ring, stood silently as he was sentenced. Government witnesses had testified that he had made at least seven flights from the Bahamas to ferry 2,500 pounds of cocaine into the country.