Pubdate: Fri, 23 Aug 2002
Source: Oklahoman, The (OK)
Copyright: 2002 The Oklahoma Publishing Co.
Contact:  http://www.oklahoman.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/318
Author: Mac Bentley, The Oklahoman

KEATING DENIES RELIEF IN DRUG TRAFFICKING CONVICTION

Gov. Frank Keating on Thursday denied drug trafficker Larry Yarbrough 
relief from his prison sentence of life without parole. Keating rejected a 
Pardon and Parole Board recommendation to reduce Yarbrough's sentence to 20 
years, noting that commutation would make Yarbrough eligible for parole in 
January after serving just six years.

"That is unacceptable," Keating said in a news release. "The Pardon and 
Parole Board should not seek to act as a 'super court' that changes 
sentences it may disagree with."

Yarbrough, 52, was convicted in 1997. Officers found 28 grams -- about an 
ounce -- of powdered cocaine during a 1994 search of Yarbrough's Kingfisher 
home. That amount -- coupled with five prior felony convictions in 1982 for 
unlawful delivery of LSD and marijuana -- meant Yarbrough could be 
prosecuted under the state's drug trafficking law.

Life without parole is an automatic sentence for anyone convicted of drug 
trafficking with two prior felony offenses involving controlled and 
dangerous substances.

Kenneth Watson, Yarbrough's attorney, was obviously disappointed with 
Keating's action.

"It's just sad," Watson said. "Maybe it was political pressure he (Keating) 
had to deal with. I think it's just a gross injustice that this even 
happened. This is a nonviolent crime that did not merit life without parole."

In an historic vote Aug. 6, the parole board unanimously recommended the 
governor commute Yarbrough's sentence.

Three of five parole board members voted to recommend Yarbrough's sentence 
be commuted to 20 years in prison. The two other board members voted to 
commute Yarbrough's sentence to time served.

"The governor has a responsibility by constitution, and we do also," said 
Marc Dryer, a member of the parole board who voted to commute Yarbrough's 
sentence to time served. "For my part, I would think the board will 
continue to do its best to review a case on its own merits, which I think 
we did in this case.

"I don't think we tried to act like a court, a jury, or an appellate court. 
We saw it one way and the governor saw it another, and the ultimate, final 
decision by constitution rests with the governor."

This was the second time the board has asked Keating to commute a 
prisoner's life-without-parole sentence. Two years ago, the parole board 
voted, 3-2, to commute the life-without-parole sentence of killer Cathy Sue 
Lamb to a life sentence. Keating rejected the recommendation.

"This is a habitual offender with a 20- year criminal history who was 
convicted and sentenced by a jury under existing state law," Keating said 
of Yarbrough, who is at the Davis Correctional Facility in Holdenville."He 
has been identified by law enforcement as a major drug trafficker who was 
at the core of the crime problem in Kingfisher for many years.."

The district attorney's office in Kingfisher welcomed Keating's ruling.

"Obviously, we're very pleased," said prosecutor E.A. "Ard" Gates. "I am 
aware there were a number of citizens both in this county and elsewhere 
that wrote letters to the governor expressing their views."

The Court of Criminal Appeals upheld Yarbrough's conviction in 1998, ruling 
no errors occurred during the trial or during nearly 26 months of pre-trial 
maneuvering that would warrant reversal.

Watson said Yarbrough has appealed to the 10th Circuit Court on his own. 
Watson plans to help with that appeal.

"There's some post-conviction (relief) that we might be able to do (in 
district court)," he said, "but that's the only thing that's left."
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