Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, December 9, 1993 TAG: 9312090127
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ADRIENNE PETTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ROCKY MOUNT LENGTH: Medium
"I think they're just right snotty," she said. "I just don't see how they could send someone to prison in her condition."
Betty Lynch Hairfield, 51, who had been convicted of five drug distribution charges in 1992 but spared sentencing because she has ovarian cancer, was sent to prison Wednesday.
When she was sentenced last year, "the judge told her to go home and behave herself," Commonwealth's Attorney Cliff Hapgood said. "She didn't."
Hairfield was indicted Monday on new charges of murder and distribution of cocaine. She is accused of selling cocaine to 17-year-old Jessica Annette Woods Austin of Ferrum, who died of an overdose.
Hairfield was being held at Roanoke County Jail until space is available for her at the women's correctional facility in Goochland County.
Frank Austin testified Wednesday that he and his wife bought cocaine from Hairfield at her home in the Doe Run section of Franklin County the day before Thanksgiving.
That night, the two took the cocaine to their Ferrum home and snorted it, he said.
Austin, who noticed that his wife was having problems after ingesting the cocaine, rushed her to Franklin Memorial Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
A preliminary autopsy showed that Austin died of a drug overdose, Franklin County Sheriff W.Q. "Quint" Overton said.
Investigators found a small quantity of cocaine and paraphernalia when they searched Hairfield's home after Austin's death, Lt. E.A. Hunt said.
Franklin County Circuit Judge B.A. Davis III's voice quavered as he sentenced her to 50 years in prison for the 1992 convictions. He suspended 25 years of the sentence.
The case raises questions about how the criminal justice system should deal with defendants who are terminally ill.
In all his years as a prosecutor, Hapgood said, he has never had to confront this issue.
"This is a really difficult case for everybody," Hapgood said. "If Miss Hairfield's health were better or closer to normal, we wouldn't be wrestling with this so hard."
Hairfield originally was taken to Bedford County Jail, but officials there refused to hold her any longer, Overton said. Roanoke County agreed to accept her until there is an opening in Goochland.
Defense Attorney Dorothy Dillon, who represented Hairfield on the original drug distribution charge, says she also is troubled about what the court should do.
"In view of her health, she needs to be in a hospital," Dillon said.
by CNB