WOMAN SENTENCED FOR SMUGGLING DRUGS by Maryclaire Dale
Copyright (c) 1997, Charleston Newspapers

STAFF WRITER

A 40yearold Charleston woman said she was pressured
into bringing crackcocaine to the prison at Mount Olive by her inmate
son.
Sharon Starcher, a mother of six whose children have had
several scrapes with the law, will spend 46 months in
prison for her mistake.
"Perhaps [son] Dwight conned her to a point. He ran up a
debt in prison because of crackcocaine use. He's consistently
had dirty urine. She thought she was somehow saving her son from
the threats he said he was subject to by bringing him crackcocaine,"
Assistant Public Defender Brian Kornbrath told a judge Thursday.
"She doesn't use crack herself," he said.
Kornbrath described Starcher as a woman who was abused
by her common law husband and who is easily intimidated. He said she
feels guilty about the situations in which her children have found
themselves.
Son Dwight "Fat Man" Campbell, 22, is in Mount Olive on
an aggravated robbery conviction. Son Clifford Starcher,
then 14, turned himself in after an apparent accidental shooting that
killed Chewbacca "Chili" Mayo, also 14, in 1993.
The shooting occurred at South Park Village, where the
Starchers were then living. Before that shooting, neighbors reported,
the Starcher apartment had been hit by a spray of bullets one night.
Sharon Starcher sobbed throughout Thursday's sentencing
hearing.
Knowing the circumstances of her life, U.S. District
Judge John Copenhaver Jr. voiced his frequent lament over the
severity of mandatory federal drug sentences.
The 13 grams of crack Starcher had in her possession
when she was arrested last year exposed her to a sentencing
range of 46 to 57 months, despite her clean record.
"You've come here almost too willing to receive the
sentence that the sentencing guidelines direct," Copenhaver said. "The
lesser sentence in your case is unjust as well, but nevertheless the
court is obliged to follow the law."
She bought the crack "wholesale," as a favor from a
juvenile friend, for about $ 2,000.
Copenhaver asked if she couldn't help prosecutors with
needed information to qualify for a lesser sentence. However,
juveniles are rarely prosecuted in federal court, so she had no useful
information on her supplier to give out, court officials
agreed.
Starcher was not cooperative after her arrest, but five
weeks ago agreed to be interviewed by drug investigators. She
admitted that she had smuggled crack into Mount Olive three other times
for her son before she was arrested during an undercover sting,
according to court statements.
She had agreed to meet a female officer at a Charleston
parking lot, and gave her some crack to take to Campbell.
At the time of her arrest, Starcher also had some pills
that contained dronabinol, the medical ingredient found in
marijuana. Kornbrath said a friend had given her the pills as a favor, for stomach
and nerve problems. Copenhaver was intrigued by the discovery, noting that
one reported roadblock to the widespread use of medical marijuana
is its prohibitive cost.
He said he was surprised to see such a costly drug being
trafficked.
Copenhaver allowed Starcher to selfreport to prison in
three weeks, to give her time to find new living arrangements for her
children.
Two of the three teenage children she has living at
home have children of their own, according to court testimony.
Copenhaver advised her to apply for drug treatment and
intensive incarceration programs while in prison, both for her
wellbeing and as a way to sharply reduce her time served.
"She looks at this as a fresh start," Kornbrath said.
In another case Thursday, Clyde "Patch" Chapman was
sentenced to 37 months in prison for distributing crackcocaine in the
Logan area last year.