MAN GETS A YEAR IN DRUG DEATH

A Madison man who helped obtained the fatal dose of heroin taken by a man
who died last summer in a limousine was given a year in jail and placed on
four years' probation Thursday.

Reginald Hill, 24, the first person in years to be prosecuted in Dane
County under the "Len Bias" law, had pleaded no contest to first-degree
reckless homicide in the death on June 7 of Christopher Gilmore, 34, of
Madison.

Hill had faced maximum penalties of 60 years in prison but Dane County
Circuit Judge Patrick Fielder cited Hill's minor role in the offense and
agreeing to testify against his co-defendants in accepting the sentencing
recommendation by Assistant District Attorney Kenneth Farmer and Hill's
attorney Paul Schwartz.

Hill, diagnosed with cerebral palsy, did not have the sophistication to
deal drugs at a higher level, said Fielder, which limited his involvement
in Gilmore's death but also made him easily influenced by others, including
co-defendants Laura R. Phillips and David Hill, who is Hill's cousin.

Fielder said Hill's pending marijuana possession charge in Dane County and
a marijuana possession conviction in Missouri meant Hill would go to prison
if he is convicted again.

According to the complaint, Hill had Phillips contact his cousin to get
heroin for Gilmore. Hill allegedly sold Phillips, 38, heroin valued at $75
and Phillips allegedly help inject the heroin into Gilmore. Phillips then
left Gilmore in the back of a limousine owned by James Benson, a relative
of Gilmore. When Benson returned to the limousine, he noticed Gilmore was
not breathing and took him to a fire station on Cottage Grove Road, where
paramedics found he was dead.

David Hill, 25 and Phillips, 38, remain at large. Farmer said after court
that he would seek longer sentences for them if they are found and convicted.

The "Len Bias" law, named after a University of Maryland athlete who died
of a cocaine overdose, allows authorities to bring homicide charges against
those who supply drugs that cause a death.