Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 13, 1990 TAG: 9004130526
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Short
Robotham, who received a 16-year jail sentence last month, filed an appeal in U.S. District Court in Roanoke.
"He is appealing on the basis that evidence presented at the trial did not warrant a finding of guilt," his attorney, Chester Smith, said Thursday. "He's contending that the government informant did not tell the truth."
An informant testified that he purchased crack cocaine from Robotham with money supplied to him by the DEA. In one deal, the informant paid $1,500 for what he thought was 28 grams of crack but which actually weighed 19 grams.
In another deal, he paid $120 for seven rocks of crack. In a third deal, the informant testified he paid $1,600 for 23 1/2 grams of the drug.
The 34-year-old Robotham was one of the first suspects arrested in Operation Caribbean Sunset, a drug sweep that began in July in an effort to rid Roanoke of crack dealers. Authorities have characterized Robotham as one of Roanoke's major distributors of crack.
Agents who raided Robotham's Forest Hill Avenue home last summer found several ounces of cocaine; scales; and $2,660 in cash, banded and stored in a videocassette box. A raid two weeks later on a Wayne Street apartment - which Robotham said he rented for his cousin - turned up a "stash pad" in which the cocaine derivative was manufactured and packaged for sale.
Throughout, Robotham maintained his innocence.
Smith said it could be several months before the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond acts on the appeal.
by CNB