FEDERAL JUDGE TO RECONSIDER DRUG SENTENCES

Witnesses say they were told to lie about amounts

A federal judge says he will look into allegations that a Charleston police
officer told key witnesses to lie on the stand in federal court.

The move, announced Wednesday, is intended to resolve questions surrounding
the 1999 sentencing hearings of drug kingpins Calvin Dyess, Orange Dyess
and Eric D. Spencer.

Three key witnesses at the hearings, including Calvin Dyess' ex-wife, say
Cpl. William Hart urged them to inflate the amount of drugs handled by the
men. Dyess' ex-wife, Rachel Ursula Rader, was having an affair with Hart
and later married him.

She brought forth the perjury allegations in 2001 when she was in the
process of divorcing Hart.

The testimony of Rader and two others was key for prosecutors because
federal judges plug the drug amounts into a formula that helps determine
the sentences for people convicted of drug-related offences.

Calvin Dyess was sentenced to life in prison for conspiring to deal drugs
and launder money; Orange Dyess was sentenced to more than 19-and-a-half
years in prison for maintaining a drug distribution center; and Spencer was
sentenced to nearly 22 years in prison for drug conspiracy.

In his order scheduling an evidentiary hearing on the matter next March,
U.S. District Judge Charles Haden wrote that he can't tell whether any of
the witnesses actually committed perjury during the sentencing hearings.
But to assure himself "that the sentences imposed were based on truthful
testimony and accurate accounts," he said he will look into the matter.

"To do otherwise could shake the public's confidence that the sentences
imposed were lawful, fair, just and principled," he wrote.

Allegations of perjury were first brought forward by Rader in December
2001. She said Hart, who she was in the process of divorcing at the time,
told her to lie about cooking crack in Spencer's apartment and told her
what to say during the Dyess' sentencing hearing.

Since then, at least one other witness' testimony has been called into
question.

Federal prosecutors also are looking into allegations that Hart gave Rader
thousands of dollars of seized drug money.

In February 1999, Rader claims she turned over about $80,000 of Calvin
Dyess' hidden cash to Hart. She says she let him keep about $27,000.

Hart, who turned over about $41,000 of the money to the federal government,
says Rader gave him about $41,000 and contends he only let her keep about
$200 or $300. Hart remains an officer with the Charleston Police Department.