Latest Legal News from the Criminal Courts of Los Angeles, California and the U.S.

February 07, 2008

SACRAMENTO POLICE ARREST OF DRUG TRAFFICKER RESULTS IN 18 YEAR FEDERAL PRISON SENTENCE

Sacramento—United States Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced today that MICHAEL E. SLATON, also known as Michael Todd, 45, of Sacramento, was sentenced today by United States District Judge Frank C. Damrell, Jr. to serve 18 years in federal prison. There is no parole in the federal system, and SLATON will be required to serve at least 85% of the prison time imposed. The defendant pleaded guilty in May 2007.

This case is the product of an investigation by the Sacramento Police Department.

According to Assistant United States Attorney Anne Pings, who prosecuted the case, the defendant had been arrested in 1993 and sentenced at that time to serve 14 years in federal prison. In May 2006, just a few months after being released from prison following his conviction in that case, defendant SLATON, a.k.a. Michael Todd, was arrested by the Sacramento Police Department after fleeing from officers who approached him at his residence to execute a search warrant in the 8100 block of .Pinefield Drive, Sacramento. After leading the police on a high-speed vehicle chase, SLATON crashed his own car and got into another car and ordered that driver to drive away. When SLATON finally exited the second car, he ran through some wooded areas, dropping large quantities of crack cocaine as he ran. The officers found more crack cocaine in his girlfriend’s house. In total, the defendant pleaded guilty to possessing over 400 grams of crack cocaine with the intent to sell it. The judge increased the defendant’s sentence on the grounds that he had recklessly endangered others during his high-speed police chase.

The defendant received a sentence of approximately 14 years for the new case and an additional four years to be served consecutively based on a violation of the conditions of supervised release on the earlier sentence. In sentencing the defendant to 18 years in prison, Judge Damrell told the defendant that he certainly knew the stakes when, after serving 14 years for trafficking in crack cocaine, he came right out of prison and decided to do the same thing all over again.

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CALIFORNIA CRIMINAL DEFENSE LAWYER

JOSEPH SHEMARIA

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Latest Legal News from the Criminal Courts of Los Angeles, California and the U.S.