WOMAN BEGINS SENTENCE AMID PROTESTS

Even Prosecutors Believe She Was Dupe Of Boyfriend

DAYTON - Her appeals exhausted, Carol Lee McGonegal began her eight- year
prison sentence Friday while her attorney prepared to seek a commutation of
her drug case sentence to Ohio Gov. Bob Taft.

Attorney Jon Paul Rion said the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review
McGonegal's case a couple of weeks ago, setting the stage for her sentence
to begin.

Rion noted that many in law enforcement are supporting a lesser sentence
for McGonegal, including representatives of the U.S. Customs Service, U.S.
Attorney's Office, Drug Enforcement Administration, Dayton Police
Department and a regional drug task force.

"When we go to the governor with this kind of strength in numbers, we
believe he'll see it is out of the ordinary," Rion said. He noted he will
not seek the commutation until after the November election.

McGonegal was convicted of drug abuse in the June 1998 possession of 335
pounds of marijuana in a motor home as she left the Stop-N-Lock, 3646
Linden Ave.

Rion had argued that McGonegal, 55, who owned What's Cookin restaurant, 454
Patterson Road, has no prior record, did not own the marijuana and had been
"coerced into having it in her proximity by her boyfriend."

The boyfriend and another defendant, prosecuted on federal charges, got
lesser sentences because they cooperated with authorities. One drew five
years in prison, the other 2 1/2 years.

Prior to sentencing McGonegal of Oakwood on Dec. 6, 2000, visiting
Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Otho Eyster voiced strong disagreement
with the mandatory sentence.

While agreeing with a jury's guilty verdict, Eyster of Knox County noted
that "no one in the room believes" in the sentence "I'm about to impose. My
hands are tied and, believe me, I don't have any alternative."

After imposing sentence, which included the minimum fine of $7,500, Eyster
took the unusual step of setting McGonegal free on an appeal bond.

An investigator in the case testified that McGonegal did not own, use, buy
or sell marijuana. He muttered "It's not right" when the jury returned its
guilty verdict.