Judge Again Refuses to Send Dealer to Prison

A defense attorney said she will ask President Clinton to commute the sentence of convicted crack cocaine dealer Bobbie Marshall after a federal judge Monday again refused to sentence him to prison.

Saying his conscience would not allow it, U.S. District Judge Terry J. Hatter again postponed sentencing, until Jan. 13.

Marshall, 43, has spent more than three years in jail for selling 53 grams of cocaine out of his mother’s Pacoima home in 1989.

While out on bond, he became an anti-drug crusader, a gang conciliator and a children’s counselor praised for his work by school officials, ministers and politicians such as Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Panorama City).

During Monday’s hearing, Marshall, escorted by federal marshals, smiled at his new wife, Sandra Johnson, and his mother, Daisy Marshall. He remains in custody at the Metropolitan Detention Center.

Minutes later, Hatter was exchanging barbs with Rick Drooyan, the chief of the criminal division of the U.S. attorney’s office.

“It seems the government does not value the community or the young people that live there the way I do,” Hatter said. “More young people will end up like him if [Marshall] is not out there to prevent it.”

Drooyan said his office has already compromised on punishment for Marshall. His turnaround prompted federal prosecutors to drop his sentence in a plea bargain from 20 years to nine.

“I agree, your honor, and wish the situation was otherwise,” he said. “But we have agonized over this case and we feel we have been as flexible as possible. We believe the sentence is an appropriate amount of time.”

Hatter is an outspoken critic of federal sentencing guidelines, approved by Congress in the 1980s, which he said unfairly limit the sentencing discretion of federal judges in cases such as Marshall’s.

Defense attorney Denise Meyer said she will appeal to President Clinton for a commutation for Marshall. But Meyer noted that the president has issued only three commutations since taking office in 1992.

“When I talked to [federal officials], they said it was extremely rare,” Meyer said. “Basically, they said don’t count on it.”

Meyer said she expects it could take as long as a year to receive a reply to a request for commutation.