Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, April 24, 1993                   TAG: 9304240356
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

DEALER GETS 20 YEARS SHOP OWNER FACES MORE DRUG CHARGES

The jury fixed a sentence of 20 years in prison for Robert J. Ferrell, owner of RJ's Body Shop and Used Cars.

Ferrell, 44, still faces four similar charges alleging he sold $350 worth of powder cocaine each time a state police informant visited his business.

Although Ferrell portrayed himself as a hard-working businessman facing trumped-up charges, Regional Drug Prosecutor Melvin Hill asked jurors to consider his drug dealing - "not whether he owns a business, whether he wears a tie, whether he has a family."

Hill said middle-level dealers like Ferrell are to blame for some of the city's most drug-infested neighborhoods.

"Eleventh Street Northwest is not the other side of the moon," Hill told the jury. "It is part of our community."

Much of Ferrell's defense was pinned on the credibility of the police informant, a cocaine addict who "bought his way out of the penitentiary" by agreeing to work for police, defense attorney Jonathan Apgar said.

Apgar pointed to testimony from psychologist Charles Holland, who said the informant suffered memory loss and a dependent personality disorder.

Someone with such a disorder is easily influenced. The disorder also creates an "overwhelming" urge to please authority figures - in this case, Apgar argued, police officers looking for drug dealers.

During the two-day trial in Roanoke Circuit Court, jurors heard tape-recorded telephone calls in which the informant arranged the purchase of an "eightball" - one-eighth of an ounce of cocaine - at Ferrell's body shop.

The informant testified that the transaction took place in a back room of the business last July.

Last year, Ferrell sued the city for $100,000 after it arranged to tow away 24 cars parked on his business lot. Zoning officials considered the cars junked, but Ferrell said they were operable and part of his business. The suit was settled, but Ferrell believes it led police to seek charges against him.

"Ever since that day, the Ferrells feel they have been the object of police scrutiny," Apgar said.

Ferrell, who also was fined $150,000 by the jury, was allowed to remain free on bond pending a sentencing hearing.