Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 14, 1990 TAG: 9006140178
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUGLAS PARDUE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
U.S. District Judge Jackson Kiser ordered McAfee released from prison July 4 after serving three months of a 15-month sentence.
When he imposed the 15-month sentence he did so mainly as a deterrent to people in positions of public responsibility and trust, Kiser said.
He said he is aware that in "many other white-collar crimes of recent notoriety," such as the case of former White House aide Oliver North, "the defendants have not been sent to prison."
There are similarities in many of the cases, but they are different with different judges, Kiser said. In McAfee's case, he said, "Some time needed to be served. I don't think the length is important . . . I think that gets the message across."
McAfee, who has been in the national spotlight repeatedly since 1960 when he represented the family of U-2 spy pilot Francis Gary Powers, was not in the courtroom for the hearing. He is in prison at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida where he has been since his appeals ran out and he began serving his sentence April 4. He would not have been eligible for parole until late this year or early 1991.
Guy Harbert, McAfee's Roanoke attorney, told Kiser that the request for release was a "simple plea for mercy." McAfee has been suspended from the practice of law, has paid a $50,000 fine, has been publicly disgraced and is now in prison. It's time for mercy, Harbert said.
He told Kiser that McAfee will turn 61 next month and that if he is forced to serve the remainder of his sentence, it will mean losing a considerable part of the rest of his life.
"Don't say that, I'll be 61 later this month," Kiser replied.
Kiser, who received a petition from about 1,000 people urging McAfee's release, said that in the more than 30 years he has been in law "I've never seen such an outpouring of support from a community as I have for Carl McAfee."
John Farmer, another attorney for McAfee, told Kiser that in Norton, McAfee is "kind of a treasure" because of his accomplishments as an attorney and community servant. "We don't want our treasure locked up."
McAfee's wife sat with her hands clasped and her head bowed as she listened to Kiser. She wept, jumped to her feet and hugged her daughter when Kiser announced his decision.
McAfee's son, Tim, who is commonwealth's attorney of Wise County, wiped tears from his cheeks. Asked how he felt, he replied "Good, good. That's an unfair question at a time like this."
McAfee was convicted in 1988 on charges of being an accessory after the fact to the drug-smuggling and money-laundering efforts of Olga Thrasher, the wife of the missing drug pilot who smuggled drugs from the Caribbean to various airports in Virginia's mountains.
In exchange for probation, she turned state's evidence against McAfee and numerous drug dealers.
During his trial McAfee maintained that he did nothing illegal. He said Thrasher hired him to represent her and that all he did was give her legal advice.
According to testimony in the case, McAfee helped Thrasher obtain a false Jamaican death certificate for her husband. He also gave her advice on how to avoid federal bank laws designed to prevent laundering of large amounts of illegally obtained cash.
by CNB