'HABITUAL OFFENDER' SENTENCED TO LIFE FOR SELLING CRACK COCAINE

A 48-year-old "habitual offender" on parole was sentenced to life in
prison Friday for selling crack cocaine to a confidential informant.

Ronnie Caddell, of Tyler, pleaded guilty to two charges of delivery
of a controlled substance and was sentenced by 241st District Judge
Jack Skeen Jr. The sentencing range was enhanced to 25 years to life
because of his prior convictions. Caddell will serve the two life
sentences concurrently and will be eligible for parole in 15 years.

At 7:10 p.m. on May 23, about nine months after he was released from
prison, he sold two crack cocaine rocks outside a Tyler apartment
complex. And at 3:40 p.m. on May 24, he sold six crack rocks to the
confidential informant.

Assistant Smith County District Attorney Joe Murphy said Caddell was
released from prison after serving nearly seven years of a 40-year
sentence he received in 1999 for possessing a controlled substance.
In 1992, he received a 16-year term for delivering a simulated
substance and 40 years in prison for engaging in organized criminal
activity. Murphy said his criminal history began when he was a
juvenile in the 1970s.

He said in the late 1990s, Caddell joined a prison gang. He asked the
judge to protect the community and sentence the defendant to life in
prison, which he said he has earned from his behavior in and out of prison.

Defense attorney Don Davidson said prior to his arrest, Caddell was
employed for several months but was laid off. He said according to a
letter for Caddell's mother, the defendant did seek help for his drug
problem and "made a sincere effort to get on top of what obviously is
a life-long problem."

Davidson said his client accepted responsibility and asked the judge
to consider the low-end of the sentencing range and to let him serve
the sentence concurrently with any sentence he receives for violating
his parole. He also asked that Caddell be allowed to get drug treatment.

Skeen said it was "very obvious there is a clear pattern" in
Caddell's criminal conduct, which lengthy prison sentences have not changed.