JUDGE LOATH TO GIVE WOMAN 16 YEARS

53-Year-Old 'Sweet Lady' Has Run Crack House For Decade

It was justice meted out with a big dose of reluctance.

Faced with the prospects of putting a 53-year-old woman behind bars
for more than 16 years, Senior U.S. District Judge James H. Jarvis on
Monday was clearly troubled.

"If you were a big burly man standing out there, this would be so
much easier," Jarvis told Jamsey L. Foster. "You're a sweet lady, but
I'm going to have to put you in the penitentiary."

Assistant U.S. Attorney Mike Winck was shedding no tears for Foster,
however. He pushed for - and received - a sentence of 196 months for
Foster.

According to Winck, Foster has been running a crack house in
Knoxville for a decade now. She's been raided at least four times
since 1996. Each time, authorities found crack.

Until now, however, Foster has avoided prison, racking up
probationary terms in state court. That changed when, last year, she
wound up facing federal charges for a role in a drug conspiracy
linked to a massive postal distribution network in which dope was
shipped via mail from California.

"Her house was used as a crack house on a daily basis," Winck told
Jarvis. "Yes, she was a crack addict. But she also sold crack out of
her house. That's been going on for a decade. She's been a real
problem in the community. It's got to stop."

Assistant Federal Defender Kim Tollison argued that Foster was being
punished more harshly than others involved in the conspiracy case,
including her supplier.

"We feel like she ought to receive more of a reduction," Tollison
said.

Foster insisted she was not a crack dealer.

"I didn't sell the drugs," she said. "I let them use my house to sell drugs."

But Winck pointed to a pre-sentence report that stated Foster also
sold crack. Foster had conceded at the hearing's start that the
report was accurate.

"I just got hooked up with the wrong people," Foster said. "That's
all I can say."

Although Jarvis ultimately sided with Winck in his sentencing
decision, the veteran judge held his nose in doling out the hefty
prison term.

"She'll be my age when she gets out of prison," Jarvis lamented.