MAN GETS 28-YEAR SENTENCE FOR WOMAN'S DRUG DEATH

A Kansas City man was sentenced Friday to more than 28 years in prison for
providing the cocaine that killed a Prairie Village woman in 2000, the
first local case of its kind.

Last year, Derrick Bruce Smith became the first man to be charged in the
area under the Len Bias law. The law, named for the star college basketball
player who overdosed on cocaine in 1986, stiffens federal drug penalties
for anyone convicted of distributing drugs that lead to someone's death.

Smith, 34, was convicted by a federal jury in January of distributing the
cocaine that killed 20-year-old Elizabeth Callison. U.S. District Judge
Dean Whipple sentenced Smith to 28 years and four months in prison without
parole Friday.

A traditional cocaine distribution conviction carries a maximum sentence of
20 years in prison. The Bias law carries a minimum sentence of 20 years
without parole.

Nationally, few cases have been filed under the law.

Smith was accused of meeting Callison and her friend outside a bar at
closing time in May 2000 while driving a Cadillac stocked with 149 grams of
the drug. He pounded the rock cocaine into powder and gave it to Callison
to inhale. After using the drug, Callison went into convulsions and died
within minutes.

Smith's lawyer had countered that the three met and shared the drug, and
that the Bias law was not applicable.