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The judge gave him seven years of probation, telling Covar that if he was to continue using the illegal drug, to keep it to himself. The same judge, J. Carlisle Overstreet, revoked the probation and sent Covar to prison Thursday after police testified that Covar was selling the drug. Overstreet said he took the costs of jailing Covar into consideration but felt he had no choice. "He's been in a bad situation for a long time, but I've been in a wheelchair myself for about five months, and it isn't justification for breaking the law," Overstreet said in an interview Friday. "And this just got to the point where he was showing a blatant disregard for the law." According to the Department of Corrections, the special care Covar will need will cost $258.33 a day - or more than $660,000 if he serves his full seven years. A typical prisoner costs taxpayers $47.63 per day. "Throwing a quadriplegic into a prison cell is asinine and shows the idiocy of our drug policy," said Keith Stroup, executive director of the National Organization to Reform Marijuana Laws. "This is just an incredibly poor use of our limited law enforcement and corrections resources." Covar, who has been paralyzed since breaking his neck in a diving accident on July 4, 1967, says marijuana is the only thing that will relieve the pain from muscle spasms in his neck. In an interview with The Augusta Chronicle before Thursday's ruling, Covar said he had tried legal drugs to relieve the pain, including Valium. "I don't know where I am half the time I'm taking that," Covar said. "I'm already in prison in my body, and they want to put me to sleep all the time. If I had another alternative, I would do it." Although Covar denied selling marijuana, authorities said they were tipped that he had indeed been dealing. Investigators found about 1 1/4 ounces of pot in his home. "We feel strongly he was selling out of his house," Richmond County District Attorney Danny Craig said. "Police tried everything they could to avoid taking him into custody, and we did everything we could to avoid the scenario of turning a quadriplegic over to the prison system." Covar's father said the marijuana officers found didn't even belong to his son. Louis Covar said his son spent all of Thursday night in his wheelchair while awaiting transfer from the Richmond County jail to the state prison hospital in Augusta. "They just let him sit there in the back cell and they only gave him one Valium for the pain," the elder Covar said. "This after he did what the judge said; he kept it to himself. This just isn't fair." Charles A. Toole Sr., chief jailer at the Richmond County Jail, said he didn't have enough time Thursday to make arrangements for Covar, but jailers did give him a bath and put him in a bed. He will remain in a normal cell with special care until his transfer, expected early next week. "We're not inhumane and we see the man can't help himself," Toole said. "I didn't put the man in jail, but while he is here, we'll take care of him." Past Stories:
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Quadriplegic jailed on pot charge could cost Georgians $660,000 Copyright (c) 2000
Nando.net ATLANTA (February 18, 2000 4:28 p.m. EST http://www.nandotimes.com) -- A quadriplegic who says he uses marijuana for medical reasons has been sentenced to seven years in prison - costing taxpayers five times more than an average inmate - after being accused of selling the drug from his home. Louis E. Covar Jr., 51, who uses a wheelchair and can't control his muscles beneath his shoulders, was convicted of marijuana possession last March in Augusta. |