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| From: AtlantaSistah@aol.com | Posted: Aug-23-2000 2:09 am | Msg: 1FF5 |
| Subject: [Sistahtalk] Kemba Smith's appeal dismissed | ||
| Kemba Smith's appeal dismissed Friday, August 18, 2000 BY TOM CAMPBELL Times-Dispatch Staff Writer The federal appeals court in Richmond refused to end Kemba Niambi Smith's "nightmare" sentence of 24=BD years in prison yesterday and dismissed the appeal of her 1994 conviction for crimes she committed for her since-murdered crack-dealing boyfriend. That may leave the fate of the former Glen Allen debutante to the Clinton White House, which is currently considering a clemency petition and could convert her sentence to time served. Lawyers for Smith, now nearly 29, last year appealed the case in U.S. District Court in Norfolk, where she pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine, money laundering and lying to authorities. The appeal challenged the sentence as excessive and sought a new trial on procedural issues. Judge Robert G. Doumar refused to hear evidence in the appeal and dismissed the appeal last August. Doumar's decision is the one upheld yesterday by the appeals court panel, which reviewed it and found no reversible error. Smith was charged in 1993 along with the late Peter Michael Hall, her former boyfriend, and others in a crack-cocaine distribution ring based near Hampton University. Smith went to college there in 1989 after graduating from Hermitage High School in Henrico County. By 1990, when Smith met him, Hall was the principal leader of the crack ring and recruited university students as couriers to carry drugs and money back and forth to New York. Smith admitted she took part in the ring's activities. After the indictment in 1993, Smith became a fugitive and followed Hall to Houston and later to Seattle. In late August 1994, almost six months pregnant, Smith returned to Richmond alone and contacted authorities. Her son, Armani, was born while she was incarcerated and lives now with her parents. Smith is now in a federal prison in Connecticut. Smith's case has gained national attention over the past few years, being headlined in some media as "Kemba's Nightmare." The issues include her youth and previously clean record and the 1980s federal sentencing laws that impose much harsher sentences for trafficking in crack than for regular powder cocaine. Yesterday Smith's lawyer, Donald J. Munro of Washington, said he expects to continue appealing her case in the appeals courts. Her cause has the = backing of the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund. Munro said also he is optimistic that President Clinton will grant clemency. "Everybody who has looked at the case has unanimously concluded it was an extremely harsh sentence," Munro said. He said that includes the federal sentencing commission that reviews the rules used in formulating guidelines that give judges ranges for the sentences they may impose. Contact Tom Campbell at (804) 649-6416 or tcampbell@timesdispatch.com | ||
[Sistahtalk] Kemba Smith's appeal dismissed AtlantaSistah@aol.com 
Re: [Sistahtalk] Kemba Smith's appeal dismissed Calandria Somuah