DRUGS, VIOLENCE: A FAMILY HISTORY

For The Newtons Of Lee County , So Many Crimes Bring So Little Time

BEATTYVILLE - In some areas, entire families are infamous for getting into
trouble -- and getting off the hook. The result, residents say, is a lack
of faith in the court system.

In Lee County, members of the Newton family have been charged with crimes
that include dealing drugs, assaulting cops and holding a loaded gun to a
man's head.

The subject puts Beattyville Mayor Charles Beach III in a bad mood.

"What can the community do about it?" he said of the Newtons. "It's
demoralizing."

The circuit judge for the county, William W. Trude Jr., said he views each
case on its merits.

"I don't look at the whole family. I look at the individuals," Trude said.

Consider the last decade of Newton family history, as traced through Lee
County court files.

Melvin Newton, 43, was arrested in 1992 on charges of trafficking marijuana
and having drug paraphernalia. The trafficking charge was reduced to
possession, and Melvin received probation.

He came up on charges again in 1995, this time for selling Tylox to an
informant. Melvin was sentenced to eight years in 1998, but Judge Trude
freed him on shock probation after less than 11 months.

In 1997, Melvin, who said in court records that he was self-employed, had
been charged in an arrest warrant with wanton endangerment. A man told
police that Melvin put a loaded .38-caliber pistol to his head,
"threatening to blow his head off." That case was dismissed at the alleged
victim's request.

Melvin says he doesn't think he got any special deals. "They didn't do no
favoritism towards me, because I had to go get me a lawyer and get
pre-release probation," he said recently.

Trude said he gave Melvin shock probation in the 1995 trafficking case
because it was Melvin's first felony conviction. (Had Melvin been convicted
on the 1992 trafficking charge, the 1995 conviction would have been his
second felony.)

Commonwealth's Attorney Tom Hall said he opposed the probation.

Melvin Newton's 25-year-old son, Melvin Newton Jr., was charged in March
2000 with receiving stolen property and possession of marijuana. The case
was dismissed on the motion of the prosecutor. In October 2000, he pleaded
guilty to assaulting a woman, and his one-year sentence was discharged for
two years on the condition that he not assault the victim again.

In August 2002, police charged Melvin Jr. with disorderly conduct and
fleeing police. He received three months in jail, which was set aside for
two years.

Melvin Jr. was indicted in May 2001 on charges of complicity in burglary
and complicity in theft by unlawful taking. He thinks he'll get some jail
time this time, he said, because he took some property to settle a debt.

"I'm going to go to the penitentiary over that," Melvin Jr. said last
month. The alleged victim "owed me money, so I went in there and took some
things."

Melvin's brother, Arvel "Sugar" Newton Jr., assaulted a Beattyville police
officer in the Lee courthouse in 1998. Newton's punch broke the officer's
nose, according to court records.

On the day that he punched the officer, Arvel was at court trying to get an
early release in another assault case, one in which he'd hit a woman. The
motion was denied, and Arvel served a full year, getting out in April 1999.

But before Arvel was sentenced for assaulting the police officer, he was
charged again with attacking law officers. This time he bit a state police
trooper who responded to a domestic-abuse call in June 2000, according to
court records.

During the struggle that followed, according to court records, the trooper
and two sheriff's deputies had to shackle Arvel. In the process, one deputy
sustained internal bruising, and the other suffered a swollen right hand,
according to court records.

As officers took him into custody, Arvel told the trooper that he had an
"ass-whooping" coming, court documents said. And when they got to the Lee
County jail, Arvel kicked out a rear window of the police car he was in,
court records said.

Arvel was sentenced to 21/2 years on Sept. 5, 2001. A little more than two
months later, Trude granted him shock probation, and Arvel was released
from custody.

(Arvel also had been charged with punching his girlfriend in the face in
1997, and with punching a man at a gas station in 2000. In both instances,
the alleged victims asked that the charges be dropped.)

Trude said he gave Arvel probation in 2001 because he has a brain injury
that was confirmed by medical records. Those records have been sealed in
the case file. Other court records say the 34-year-old has collected
federal Supplemental Security Income because of "Chronic Brain Syndrome."

"I didn't feel like he needed to be in prison any longer," Trude said.

Besides, the judge added during a Jan. 6 interview, "Sugar hasn't been in
any trouble" since his release.

One week later, on Jan. 13, Arvel was charged with harassment.

Police allege that he kicked and punched a man named Ronald Roland. Roland
is the husband of Tilda Sue Roland, an informant who testified against
James Fox, a relative of Arvel's, in a drug-trafficking case. The jury
recommended that Fox get seven years.

"I shouldn't have went to court," Arvel said. "It was the pressure."

Arthella Newton Moore, mother of Melvin and Arvel, was also arrested in the
Tilda Sue Roland incident. She's charged with tampering with a witness for
allegedly trying to induce Roland not to testify against Fox.

The mother and son's cases are pending.

In federal court last March, Marvin Newton -- brother of Melvin and Arvel
- -- was sentenced to two years in prison for distribution of cocaine,
possession of cocaine with intent to distribute and a weapons charge.

Officer Matt Easter of the Beattyville Police Department said the Newtons'
cases are well known in town.

"There are certain families that you know growing up," Easter said. "If
they were afraid of going to jail or prison, I wouldn't think they'd be
acting that way."