MAXIMUM PENALTY FOR A DRUG DEALER

While sentencings for drug-dealing convictions are commonplace in the
digest of daily news in Central Virginia, every now and then one will
come along that sets it apart from the usual.

That was the case earlier this month in Bedford. Calvin L. Hurt, 31,
of Bedford had been convicted of cocaine possession with intent to
distribute. But the jury that heard his case was not content to slap
him on the wrist with a small fine and five years in prison or less
under sentencing guidelines.

No, that jury decided to issue a sentence that just might increase the
risk of illegal activity among drug dealers in Bedford. It did that by
recommending that Hurt be sentenced to 40 years in prison and fined
$500,000, the maximum sentence for the crime.

Bedford Commonwealth's Attorney Randy Krantz took the recommended
sentence as a sign that society is getting a little impatient with the
drug dealing and drug use plaguing Bedford and other localities all
across Virginia. "I just honestly think the citizens are fed up with
the drug dealing," he said.

Hurt's long criminal history contributed to the jury recommendation of
the maximum sentence for the offense. Within the past six years Hurt
has been convicted in Bedford and Lynchburg on four charges of cocaine
distribution, a perjury charge, a marijuana possession charge and a
charge of driving after being declared a habitual offender.

Hurt was accused of having 14 rocks of crack cocaine on Aug. 15, 2003,
when he was spotted by an off-duty Bedford police detective and
eventually detained.

The minimum sentence, by the way, for conviction of the same charge is
five years in prison with a fine that could be considerably less than
$500,000

If the sentence stands, it will be the largest one for a single
offense in recent memory in Bedford, according to Krantz. Probably the
largest in Central Virginia, for that matter.

A circuit judge will schedule a hearing for early next year to
determine whether to accept the jury's recommendation. Hurt, in the
meantime, is being held at the Blue Ridge Regional Jail in Bedford.

A postscript to this story should mention the people without whom
dealers like Hurt would have no business - and they are the cocaine
users. There are obviously enough of them in Bedford and Lynchburg and
elsewhere in the region to sustain the drug trade from which Hurt was
profiting.

But rarely does the user ever come into the picture in the trials of
drug dealers. Krantz did say that "each of those packages of dope was
headed out to ruin another life."

It's the dealer, however, who gets caught breaking the law. And it's
the dealer who pays if he's convicted. The user is every bit as guilty
of the illegal drug trade.