FREE DRUG DEALER, PETITION REQUESTS

It may say something about the drug problem in Eastern Kentucky, a Floyd
County prosecutor said yesterday, when a court motion to let a confessed
drug dealer out of prison early contains a petition with 704 signatures.

"If you believe these 700 people represent what people want, then it would
be a very sad statement," said Floyd Commonwealth's Attorney Brent Turner,
who added:

"However, I don't believe that's representative of what the law-abiding
people in this county want."

A motion filed last week to grant shock probation to James C. "Jay C."
Johnson, of Melvin, will be heard by Floyd Circuit Judge Danny Caudill on
May 17, Turner said.

Johnson, 44, arrested last year during a regionwide drug raid called
"Operation Oxy-fest," was sentenced to five years in prison on Feb. 18 by
Caudill. Johnson pleaded guilty Jan. 18 to three counts of trafficking MS
Contin, a synthetic morphine-type drug similar to OxyContin.

Turner said the petition is unprecedented in his term as prosecutor.

Such petitions sometimes surface on behalf of "a decent guy" who got caught
driving while drunk, he said, "but never a drug dealer."

Turner said no printed names or addresses follow the signatures on the
petition. "It looks, in some instances, like one person signed for the
entire family," he said.

Turner said he is checking the list to see if it contains people who have
been convicted of drug offenses.

"Obviously, it's disheartening to see that many people asking a judge to
put a convicted drug dealer back on the street when we've done everything
we can to put him in jail," he said.

Jeffery Lovely of Salyersville, Johnson's attorney, asked the court to
consider his client's lack of a criminal history and the signatures on the
petition as reasons to let his client out of prison after serving less than
three months of his sentence.

Lovely said Johnson's wife collected the signatures. Lovely said he did not
know what impact the petition might have on Judge Caudill's decision.

"We won't be able to see whether it has the desired effect until we see
whether he gets out," Lovely said.