WOMAN'S SENTENCE TO STAND FOR MAILING DRUG TO SPOUSE WHO DIED

CINCINNATI -An appeals court has affirmed a 30-month prison sentence given
to a woman who mailed a small amount of heroin to her estranged husband in
Tennessee who consumed it and later died.

A three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday
rejected arguments by prosecutors that the woman should have been sentenced
to 20 years for homicide.

At issue was whether heroin caused the death of Leonard Rebmann.

The court upheld the sentence by U.S. District Judge Thomas G. Hull of
Greeneville, Tenn., given to Nancy Jo Rebmann, who pleaded guilty to
distributing heroin.

She said in a plea agreement that she mailed 0.036 grams, less than 1
ounce, of black tar heroin from California to Leonard Rebmann in Johnson
City in February 1997.

Hull had originally sentenced the woman to more than 24 years in prison,
but the appeals court had vacated that and ordered the district court to
determine whether Leonard Rebmann died from the heroin.

After hearing additional evidence, Hull found that the government had
failed to prove that he died from the distribution of the drug. He then
sentenced Nancy Rebmann to time served, 30 months.

Federal prosecutors appealed that, claiming the district court failed to
consider death as a factor in the resentencing.

The appeals court, in the latest opinion, said the facts "do not establish
that death resulted from the use of the heroin."