Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 11, 1993 TAG: 9302110174
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
PSYCHOLOGISTS CLASH ON `MARIJUANA MARTYR'
To spread God's message, Roger Trenton Davis is counting on 12 jurors instead of disciples."Jesus had 12, and so do I," Davis told a jury in U.S. District Court in Roanoke, where he faces charges of distributing a kilogram of cocaine.
Davis testified that God picked him to spread the word of how America's white power structure is systematically killing black people by first allowing cocaine to grip their neighborhoods, then by bringing criminal charges like the ones against him.
"As long as we have drugs in this country . . . we're doing nothing more than committing genocide of the black people," he said.
If it all sounds a little crazy, that's the idea. The so-called "marijuana martyr" is pleading not guilty by reason of insanity. But was Davis really insane, or unable to comprehend between right and wrong on the day he arranged a drug deal with undercover agents?
That depended on which psychologist was testifying Wednesday.
In a battle of expert opinions, the jury heard first from defense witness Henry Grubb, who diagnosed Davis as a paranoid schizophrenic who believes himself to be "some sort of savior to the black people."
Then federal prosecutors called their own witness, Chicago psychologist Edward Mahoney, to testify that Davis is depressed - but sane - and is probably faking the whole thing.
"Balderdash," Grubb testified. "I hardly know where to begin," he said after being called to the witness stand a second time to respond to Mahoney's testimony. ". . . I'm just embarrassed for the field of psychology."
During the most impassioned testimony of the trial, Mahoney sat in the courtroom and occasionally shook his head as his colleague launched into a complicated explanation of psychological test scores, terms and theories.
The jury will have to sort it out today, when deliberations are scheduled to begin. If convicted, Davis faces a sentence of 10 years to life in prison. If found insane, he likely will be sent to a psychiatric hospital.
For Davis, it is the fifth time he has faced a drug charge since 1972.
The Roanoke man was dubbed a "marijuana martyr" by Rolling Stone and Playboy magazines after a Wythe County jury slammed him with a 40-year sentence for possessing a small amount of marijuana - far above the national average of about three years for similar charges.
Davis, 47, was convicted two more times on marijuana charges after that case, which went to the U.S. Supreme Court on his claims that the jury's sentence amounted to cruel and unusual punishment.
In testimony Wednesday, Davis said it was the will of God that he was arrested for selling more than 2 pounds of cocaine to undercover agents in the parking lot of a golf course.
Instead of prosecuting people like him, Davis said, the government should be stopping the importation of cocaine from South America before it reaches black neighborhoods.
"I've got a problem and I need some help with it," he told the jury. "It's your problem, too, because white people don't just live in the suburbs and black people don't just live in high-crime areas. It's all America."
On cross-examination, Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Mott asked if the cocaine could reach the streets were it not for people like Davis who sell it.
"It can't get to America without people like you, sir," Davis responded.