DRUG DEALER WILL HAVE TO WAIT IN PRISON TO FIND DONOR FOR KIDNEY

If Jeffery Louis "Trick" Minor is lucky enough to hear that a match has been
found for a kidney transplant he needs, he'll get word in a federal prison
cell.

U.S. District Judge Leon Jordan decided Tuesday the convicted drug dealer
has to report today to begin serving a six-year prison sentence in
Springfield, Mo.

"I think the government and the court have already gone the extra mile at
least two times," Jordan said. "It's in the best interest of everyone
concerned that the defendant go ahead and report (today)."

Minor, 40, has been free on a $10,000 bond since the judge imposed the
sentence in December 1998. In that time, he's been looking for a kidney
donor without success. Medical professionals have told him he's not likely
to find a match outside his own family, and no matches have been viable
within his family so far.

His lawyer, Daniel McGehee, urged Jordan to let Minor continue on the bond
until a niece and nephew -- who were in court -- could be tested to see if
they can be donors. The process, court papers show, would take about a
month.

"If they can be tested and have a match, they're willing to donate a
kidney," McGehee said. "These are two people who have concern for their
uncle."

McGehee said if Minor went to prison now, it would be more difficult to get
him out for a transplant surgery. Minor also undergoes dialysis regularly.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Hugh Ward opposed McGehee's "11th-hour" request,
saying prisons are supposed to be difficult to get out of once convicted
felons go there.

"Just as Mr. Minor has been arduously trying to find a donor, we've been
just as arduously bending over backwards to accommodate that," he said. Ward
said the testing could take place while Minor is serving his sentence.

"He will not be denied a donor," Ward said. "The delay has been too long. We
have come to the end of our willingness to accommodate."

U.S. Probation Officer Myra Melton said the transplant could be done while
Minor is in custody, but that he or his family will have to pay for it.

"If he has the transplant, with follow-up care, it may be a year before he
can go back to prison," she said.

Minor pleaded guilty Feb. 21, 1997, to conspiracy to possess and distribute
large quantities of cocaine between 1992 and June 1996 in the Knoxville
area. He was arrested in June 1996 after U.S. Drug Enforcement
Administration agents caught him in a transaction involving several
kilograms of cocaine.