COCAINE OVERDOSE LEADS TO INDICTMENT OF KANSAS CITY MAN

In a case billed as a first for the Kansas City area, a federal grand jury
has indicted a man for allegedly providing cocaine that killed a
20-year-old Prairie Village woman.

Under normal sentencing on charges of distributing cocaine, Derrick Bruce
Smith of Kansas City would face a maximum of 20 years in prison without
parole and a $1 million fine. Instead, he faces a minimum of 20 years
without parole and could be sentenced to life without parole.

The enhanced penalties Smith faces result from a federal statute sometimes
referred to as the "Len Bias Law." Bias was a University of Maryland
basketball player who overdosed on cocaine in 1986, two days after he was
the first player selected in the National Basketball Association draft.

Smith, 33, is charged in the death of Elizabeth Callison. She died May 18,
2000, from a cocaine overdose. Federal authorities declined to comment on
the details of her death, which produced the increased charges.

Though the case is the first here, prosecutors across the country have
successfully employed the law. In Springfield, Mass., federal prosecutors
secured a life sentence against a convicted drug dealer last year for
selling heroin that killed a 24-year-old man and put another man in a coma
for five days.

Prosecutors in other states, including Wisconsin and Minnesota, also have
used the law.

Chris Whitley, spokesman for the U.S. attorney, said that while many drug
cases are prosecuted by the Kansas City office, it is uncommon to have a
case where the distribution of drugs directly leads to a death.

Besides the charge for distributing cocaine that resulted in a death, Smith
was charged with possession of cocaine with the intent to distribute. For
that count, he faces a maximum of 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine.

Smith was being held pending a bond hearing.