EX-DEPUTY GETS FOUR-YEAR TERM FOR DRUGS

Wife Pleads Guilty, Receives Probation

A former Harris County sheriff's deputy who admitted to using and
buying drugs while on duty was sentenced Friday to four years in prison.

State District Judge Jim Wallace told Lawrence Rhea Underwood, 29, who
pleaded guilty to two charges of possession of a controlled substance
in March, that he had soiled his badge.

Underwood's wife, Lisa Jannell Underwood, 31, pleaded guilty to one
charge of possession. Each had been charged with possessing more than
one and less than four grams of methamphetamines on Oct. 29.

Lawrence Underwood was also charged with cocaine possession after
failing a urine test conducted by the sheriff's department.

He could have been sentenced to as much as 10 years for each charge,
and Wallace could have ordered each term to be served
consecutively.

Wallace sentenced Lawrence Underwood to a four-year term for each of
his two charges, and those terms will run concurrently. It was unclear
Friday how the parole law would apply to Underwood.

He could conceivably be eligible for parole after serving one year of
his sentence, prosecutor Roberto Gutierrez said. But he might also
have to serve as much as two years before being parole-eligible
because of how parole officials have been handling such cases.

Wallace placed Lisa Underwood on six years of probation, fined her
$1,000, ordered her to do 300 hours community service and submit to
random drug testing.

Underwood's wife was arrested during a drug sting in the 4800 block of
East Mount Houston on Oct. 29. After her arrest, sheriff's deputies
obtained a search warrant to test her husband's urine.

Underwood, who went to work as a deputy in 1991, was arrested at the
couple's home in northeast Harris County and fired shortly thereafter
for violating the department's drug policy.

Gutierrez said there was evidence that Lawrence Underwood had been
abusing drugs for five years. During Friday's hearing, Underwood
admitted under oath that he once used drugs while on duty and once
bought drugs while he was in a patrol car.

Defense attorney Burt Springer asked Wallace for probation for the
two, saying they were good people who "hit a bump in the road" and
made a mistake.

Gutierrez countered that the couple did more than hit a bump. He said
they took a wrong turn that made Lawrence Underwood a traitor in the
"war on drugs."