FORMER ROCKET PLAYER FACES JAIL IN DRUG CASE

Former Houston Rocket Vernon Maxwell is facing a 90-day stay in the Harris
County Jail for a 1995 marijuana possession case that ended up in the U.S.
Supreme Court.

The nation's highest appellate court, without comment, moved Monday to
reject Maxwell's latest bid for relief from the sentence imposed by County
Court-at-Law Judge Don Jackson.

When Maxwell would report to serve his sentence was uncertain.

Neither Maxwell nor his attorney, state Rep. Ron Wilson, D-Houston,
returned calls for comment.

The case dates to October 1995 when Maxwell, driving a Mercedes
convertible, was stopped for running a red light. A baggie containing a
gram of marijuana was found on the vehicle's floor.

When the possession case was heard in Jackson's misdemeanor court, defense
attorneys Jeff Newport and James Randall Smith opted to let Maxwell plead
no contest before the judge.

Prosecutor Lance Long recommended a 30-day sentence, but the judge raised
it to 90 days.

Appellate prosecutor Alan Curry said Maxwell's sentence escalated due to
his history of scrapes with the law -- arrests for brawling with nightspot
bouncer and waving a firearm to menace a motorist.

Maxwell, released by the Rockets, posted a $20,000 appeals bond and
continued playing guard for the Philadelphia 76ers and later the San
Antonio Spurs as his case continued through the appeals process.

"The major issue, really the only issue he raised, was ineffective
assistance of counsel," Curry explained.

Maxwell's appeals lawyer, Brian Wice, blamed Smith and Newport in court
documents for the 90-day sentence. Wice contended that they should have
filed motions seeking to suppress the evidence and contest the sufficiency
of the evidence before letting Maxwell enter a plea and count on the
judge's mercy.

Houston's 14th Court of Appeals first rejected Wice's arguments and then
the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals did the same. Wice and Maxwell,
meanwhile, parted company over the athlete's conduct while free on bond,
with Wice saying: "I fired him as a client before he could fire me as a
lawyer."

Wilson carried the final appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, also losing in
an effort to keep Maxwell from having to start serving his sentence.

Copyright 1998 Houston Chronicle