MAN'S APPEAL GOES AWRY AS HE GETS MORE JAIL TIME

Drug Dealer Slips On Appeal

RICHMOND COUNTY - An Augusta cocaine dealer had his appeal for a lighter
sentence backfire when a federal appeals court decided his punishment
wasn't harsh enough.

Andrew Webb, who police say bought and distributed 10 kilograms of cocaine
per week in Augusta and Waynesboro until his arrest in 2000, received a
30-year jail term Thursday in U.S. District Court during a resentencing
hearing.

In January 2001, after a jury convicted him, U.S. District Chief Judge
Dudley H. Bowen Jr. sentenced the career drug dealer to a term of 22 years.
The judge, ignoring federal guidelines requiring a term of 30 years to
life, said his 22-year sentence was "more than the appropriate societal
response for the conduct Webb has engaged in."

A month later, Webb ignored his attorney's advice and appealed the
sentence. In return, federal prosecutors cross-appealed and said the
sentence did not follow mandatory sentencing guidelines.

The U.S. District Court of Appeals agreed with prosecutors, saying the
lower court had abused its discretion.

"A district court may not depart from the guidelines range merely because
it believes the sentence mandated is excessive," the court wrote.

Bowen has frequently railed against federal guidelines.

"Those who advocate this sort of all-inclusive legislative concept, such as
three strikes and you're out, don't very often have the opportunity to
appear in a courtroom, and in my experience never have the responsibility
of imposing criminal sentences," Bowen said last year.

In court Thursday, Webb's wife, Rodesha Taylor Webb, pleaded with the judge
to show mercy. "If he gets 30 years, his kids will be grown up by the time
he gets out," she said.

But Bowen said his hands were tied by the higher court's order.

"Mercy was a factor early on. It appears that justice is a factor now," he
said Thursday.

Before the resentencing, the defendant told the judge he regretted
appealing the earlier sentence and said he has agreed to work with police
on other cases.

Webb, 32, has been connected to Tyrone Williams, the former narcotics
investigator who has been indicted on federal drug trafficking charges.

Court documents say then-investigator Williams extorted money from Webb by
threatening to use his law enforcement authority against the drug dealer.