JUDGE ORDERS MAN SERVING 41 MONTHS RELEASED

GREENEVILLE - A Mountain City man convicted of dealing methamphetamines was
ordered freed from federal custody this week after serving 30 months in prison.

James Carl "Jamie" Osborne's sentence was appealed to the U.S. Sixth
Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati, which remanded the case to U.S.
District Judge Thomas G. Hull for resentencing on June 27.

At issue was the amount of drugs used to calculate Osborne's guideline
range. During his trial, Helen Bledsoe Cobb testified that she had seen him
sell .3 gram of methamphetamines at her home, and said she assumed he was
selling it to others to help repay the $3,500 debt he ran up with her.

Although the jury found Osborne not guilty of drug conspiracy, his
guideline range at sentencing was set at the 24 grams Cobb said was
involved in the conspiracy.

Osborne's attorney, Mark Slagle, said Osborne was an addict who was being
"fronted" for "eight-balls" of the drug. Slagle said this was the amount
Osborne would personally use in a week.

In his remand order Hull said that sentencing Osborne to 41 months in
prison for the 24 grams, when he was only convicted of selling 0.3 grams,
"had the practical effect of punishing the defendant for a conspiracy that
he was acquitted of, and increased the maximum penalty beyond the
misdemeanor conviction that he did receive."

By placing Osborne's involvement into the misdemeanor of simple possession,
his sentence was reduced to a guideline range of 15 to 21 months, and since
he had already served 30 months, Hull ordered him released at once.

Osborne will still have to serve three years of supervised release.