Serving 18 years
Ronnie Blevins Sr., received an 18-year sentence in September, 2003 for repeatedly selling crack cocaine. Based on that information, and math skills most of us learned in school, it might be easy to assume Blevins wouldn?t emerge from prison until 2021.
Boy is that a miscalculation.
In legal lingo, 18 years doesn?t mean 18 years ? especially to the drug dealers of this great state. Drug dealers, classified as a non-violent offenders, don?t even approach serving half of their sentences behind bars. Yes folks, that?s the way our system works.
I didn?t realize any of this when I grabbed my camera and went to cover a drug bust at Mark?s Market last week. Officers told me they had arrested Blevins for selling crack cocaine and they were quick to emphasize his past criminal history. They weren?t joking.
Turns out, Blevins, now 59, was arrested for selling crack at a house on Winding Way Road in 2001. Blevins made bond, but before his case went to trial he was arrested twice in the same week in March, 2001 for selling crack at Treemont Apartments. And one of those arrests was to an underage operative sent in for the sole purpose of adding aggravating circumstances to the crime.
During sentencing, Judge Bart Stanley threw the proverbial book at Blevins and hit him squarely between the eyes. He handed down an 18-year prison sentence that made observers gasp. Blevins was one drug dealer who wouldn?t soon make it back on the streets, or so it seemed.
Fast forward to May, 2005 and we find Blevins has regained his freedom. That?s when the Tennessee Board of Probation and Parole decided, out of the goodness of its heart, to let Blevins out of prison.
To be fair, Blevins had been in jail or prison since March, 2001. The time he served before his sentence in September, 2003 is deducted from his prison time, meaning he served a grand total of four years and two months behind bars. That?s hardly 18 years.
Turns out, Blevins was first eligible for parole in December, 2003 but was denied. He was granted parole on his second try despite objections from local prosecutors who wrote the parole board in an attempt to keep Blevins in prison.
Eager to discover the reasons why Blevins was released so early, I called the Tennessee Board of Probation and Parole, which is always a wealth of friendliness and information. The official statement concerning the matter from spokesman Jack Elder goes as follows: ?We did have a hearing and he was released.?
All this leaves me wondering out loud about the leniency of our judicial system. What?s the use of prosecuting someone to the fullest extent of the law if the parole board is going to let them out after serving just a fraction of their time?
I always heard criminals have to serve at least 30 percent of their sentence before the first possibility of parole, but that?s not true. They can be released long before serving 30 percent.
As a guy who embraces a get-tough-on-crime attitude, this information doesn?t sit well. What?s worse, it makes it appear as if we?re taking a harsh stance against crime when really we?re not.
It sounds like an eye-opening sentence when a judge orders a crack dealer to serve 18 years, but it?s almost laughable when that man gets out in four. Making matters more frustrating is the fact Blevins, even after his latest round of charges and the fact he apparently violated his parole, is likely to receive the same treatment again.
The state needs to make these criminals serve their time. Quit tossing them back into society so they can continue to break the law.
James Clark is editor of the Standard. He can be reached at 473-2191 or by e-mail at [email protected].