Crack Cocaine

Lawrence Taylor, one of the greatest linebackers in NFL history, was arrested Friday night in Myrtle Beach, S.C., when he tried to buy $100 worth of crack cocaine from undercover agents. Taylor, 37, was arrested along with 14 others in a reverse drug sting, said Hugh Munn, spokesman for the State Law Enforcement Division. Taylor paid a surety bond of $5,000 and was released, Munn said. Taylor, of Williamsburg, Va., was in town for a celebrity golf tournament.

WASHINGTON - A Justice Department lawyer warned the Supreme Court on Tuesday there may be thousands of crack cocaine defendants sentenced to long prison terms under a law that Congress repealed two years ago as racially biased and unfair. Deputy Solicitor Gen. Michael Dreeben urged the court to tell sentencing judges to use the new law, not the discredited old one, when setting prison terms for those convicted of crack offenses but not yet sentenced when the law was passed. But by the end of an hourlong argument, it was not clear the Supreme Court would heed the request.

Singer Whitney Houston appears to have suffered a heart episode before accidentally drowning in the bathtub of a Beverly Hills hotel suite, according to coroner's officials who listed cocaine use as a contributing factor. The autopsy results were released Thursday after weeks of intense speculation over how the 48-year-old pop star died. The case marks another high-profile Hollywood death connected to drug use, coming less than three years after Michael Jackson died suddenly at his Holmby Hills mansion.

WASHINGTON — Nearly two years ago, President Obama signed into law a "fair sentencing" act to reduce the long prison terms meted out to people who were caught with small amounts of crack cocaine. But the law did not make clear whether it should apply to cases that were pending when the measure was signed. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court will consider whether the lighter sentences apply to hundreds of cases in the pipeline when the law was signed on Aug. 3, 2010. The issue is complicated because the Justice Department and Atty.

WASHINGTON — Nearly two years ago, President Obama signed into law a "fair sentencing" act to reduce the long prison terms meted out to people who were caught with small amounts of crack cocaine. But the law did not make clear whether it should apply to cases that were pending when the measure was signed. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court will consider whether the lighter sentences apply to hundreds of cases in the pipeline when the law was signed on Aug. 3, 2010. The issue is complicated because the Justice Department and Atty.

Surely Jesse Jackson has more sense than to join the fray complaining about the alleged "racism" in crack cocaine legislation (Column Left, Nov. 5). The penalties are harsher because of the violence involved in the trade. Period. A white defendant would get the same treatment as a black one. So please, Jesse, stop picking on dummy issues and start addressing the children who are killing each other on our streets. DAN J. CURTIS Los Angeles

The girl, dazed, disheveled and appearing no older than 12, realized very quickly that she had chosen the wrong time to cross the train tracks running through a favela in Rio de Janeiro. She refused to give her name or any information to the bulky Brazilian social workers and heavily armed police officers who suspected that she was addicted to crack cocaine and living on the street. "I'm not going with you. I'm not going anywhere. I'm just going to my mom's," she said.

Consider Eugenia Jennings of Illinois a poster child for American injustice. At the age of 23, the mother of three was arrested for trading just under 14 grams of crack cocaine for designer clothing. Because the federal government has imposed a 100-to-1 sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine, and because Jennings had been convicted previously for dealing tiny amounts of crack, she was sentenced to 22 years in federal prison.

Police stopped motorists who entered four neighborhoods known for crack cocaine dealing Thursday, wrote down license plate numbers and said they would warn vehicle owners by letter. "Not only does it discourage drug activity here," Deputy Chief Joe Gerwens said, "but I think we have an obligation to the citizens who drive in here to let them know about the dangers of this area."

A federal jury Wednesday found former Angel and Kansas City Royal slugger Willie Aikens guilty of selling crack cocaine to an undercover police officer. The jury began deliberating the five charges against Aikens Wednesday morning and returned the verdict in the afternoon. Aikens played for the Angels in 1977 and '79, with the Royals from 1980 to 1983 and '84 and '85 with the Toronto Blue Jays.

Singer Whitney Houston appears to have suffered a heart episode before accidentally drowning in the bathtub of a Beverly Hills hotel suite, according to coroner's officials who listed cocaine use as a contributing factor. The autopsy results were released Thursday after weeks of intense speculation over how the 48-year-old pop star died. The case marks another high-profile Hollywood death connected to drug use, coming less than three years after Michael Jackson died suddenly at his Holmby Hills mansion.

Whitney Houston's drug history is getting lots of media folks in trouble this week. Popular Southern California radio hosts John & Ken were suspended this week for suggesting she was a crackhead. And a Fox News commentator is in hot water for referring to Houston's use of a crack pipe. Here's the thing: Although Houston publicly acknowledged having used drugs, the late singer denied ever using crack cocaine. In fact, Houston famously suggested that crack was a cheap, trashy drug that was beneath her and her spending abilities.

Their time together was so brief. Michelle Mitchell was at a sober-living home here, trying to halt a two decade-cycle of crack cocaine and prostitution. Her daughter Miracle, a bundle of energy in pink Velcro sneakers, tornadoed through the kitchen. A curvy woman with a dusting of freckles, Mitchell bear-hugged the 5-year-old. Studying Miracle was like peering into a mirror: same brown eyes, mahogany skin, wide smile. A teasing nature that belied a childhood full of indignities.

The girl, dazed, disheveled and appearing no older than 12, realized very quickly that she had chosen the wrong time to cross the train tracks running through a favela in Rio de Janeiro. She refused to give her name or any information to the bulky Brazilian social workers and heavily armed police officers who suspected that she was addicted to crack cocaine and living on the street. "I'm not going with you. I'm not going anywhere. I'm just going to my mom's," she said.

About 12,000 federal prisoners nationwide may soon be going home, some as much as three years early, under a U.S. Sentencing Commission decision to allow retroactive reductions in prison terms for inmates convicted of crack cocaine offenses. The commission voted unanimously Thursday to bring "unfairly long sentences" for crack offenders, mostly African Americans, more in line with the shorter terms given to powder cocaine offenders, often white and sometimes affluent. Patti B. Saris, the panel's chairwoman, said that when Congress passed the Fair Sentencing Act last year, it "recognized the fundamental unfairness of federal cocaine sentencing policy," and the commission sought to bridge the disparity between the two prison sentences.

The Supreme Court gave police more leeway to break into homes or apartments in search of illegal drugs when they suspect the evidence otherwise might be destroyed. Ruling in a Kentucky case Monday, the justices said that officers who smell marijuana and loudly knock on the door may break in if they hear sounds that suggest the residents are scurrying to hide the drugs. Residents who "attempt to destroy evidence have only themselves to blame" when police burst in, said Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. for an 8-1 majority.

A sheriff who said he made crack to guarantee a supply for undercover operations has been told to stop by a state appeals court. "The sheriff of Broward County acted illegally in manufacturing crack," Judge Mark Polen wrote in Friday's decision. "The police agencies themselves cannot do an illegal act, albeit their intended goal is legal and desirable."

Nearly two ounces of crack cocaine with a $10,000 street value and more than $3,100 in cash were seized at a Ventura home, police said Tuesday. Officers were led to the house at 2466 Fernwood Drive by two men whom they had stopped for a traffic violation, Sgt. Steve Bowman said. Officers Ross Nideffer and Jim Cubitt stopped a car driven by Clarence Fisher, 18, of Altadena when Nideffer recognized Fisher as the suspect in a theft reported the week before, Bowman said.

The e-mail was to the point: Mr. Banyard, Judge Letts would like to see you in his chambers. Michael Banyard's stomach churned with fear. He was living at his sister's ranch house in Rialto -- free after eight years in prison -- and he was keeping the vow he had made to stay away from crack cocaine, which had put him behind bars. Now, when he opened his e-mail on this morning in early 2005, his mind raced. Just what, he wondered, did Judge Spencer Letts want? Banyard, then 38, an ex-Compton Santana Crip recovering from a terrible drug addiction, owed the judge everything.

Consider Eugenia Jennings of Illinois a poster child for American injustice. At the age of 23, the mother of three was arrested for trading just under 14 grams of crack cocaine for designer clothing. Because the federal government has imposed a 100-to-1 sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine, and because Jennings had been convicted previously for dealing tiny amounts of crack, she was sentenced to 22 years in federal prison.