An Operation Delta Blues defendant received the minimal sentence for a drug-trafficking conspiracy charge from a federal judge Thursday who said he recognized that Marcus “Perm” Hughes is a changed man.

Hughes told U.S. District Judge D. Price Marshall Jr. that his arrest and incarceration since October has forced him to face the harm his cocaine dealing inflicted on his Phillips County community.

Hughes, 36, told Marshall that he saw Ambrose Germany, a man he loved like a brother, killed in a shooting that also wounded him, but that 11 months of incarceration kept him from participating in the state prosecution of the killer, Casey Grant.

In a February plea deal, Grant was convicted in Phillips County Circuit Court on lesser manslaughter and first-degree battery charges and sentenced to 20 years on probation.

Federal prosecutors toldthe judge that they did what they could to make Hughes available to assist state authorities, but they didn’t know local prosecutors had not called on him.

Hughes, a father and church deacon from Helena-West Helena, said he saw Germany killed but can blame only himself for the outcome of the case against Grant.

“I am sorry for the things I have done. I place myself on the mercy of the court,”Hughes said at his sentencing hearing. “It’s my fault I couldn’t see justice served for my close friend.”

Thursday’s sentencing comes about five months after Hughes pleaded guilty to the drug-trafficking conspiracy charge in exchange for prosecutors dropping three other drug charges.

Marshall - who shook Hughes’ hand before convening the hearing - imposed the minimal penalty recommended by sentencing guidelines, 70 months in prison, almost six years, followed by four years of supervised release.

The judge said he wanted the penalty to reflect that Hughes had substantially put his more serious cocainedealing crimes behind him by the time he was arrested in October - his last cocainerelated offense had occurred two years earlier - and that Hughes had become active in his church and was attending college with a 2.9 grade-point average.

But Marshall said he also had to take into account thatHughes had continued to frequently smoke - and sometimes sell - marijuana, so he refused a plea by defense attorney Omar Greene for a five-year sentence.

Greene called Hughes an “amazingly positive client” who has no animosity over Germany’s slaying. Greene said his client’s changed outlook on life has even impressed Ward Seale, the FBI agent who headed up the Delta Blues drugtrafficking and police-corruption probe that resulted in the indictments of 71 people in the Arkansas Delta area.

Assistant U.S. attorney Julie Peters said Hughes has “taken positive steps” and “moved away from being a hardened drug dealer.” She did not offer a sentencing recommendation, but told the judge she could not endorse a five-year sentence.

Saying he needed a “moment of reflection,” Marshall recessed the 47-minute proceeding for five minutes before announcing his decision.

Marshall said he was “challenged” by the circumstances of Hughes’ case. He said he believed Hughes had “a foot, a leg” in the “bad world” when he was arrested 11 months ago,but “I think most of you was in the good world, the life of being a productive citizen.

“You were a productive citizen in most respects, and I hope you will be again,” Marshall said.

On Wednesday, Marshall sentenced two other men indicted with Hughes.

Emmett “Smack” Smith III, and Joseph Hall both pleaded guilty April 11 to the main charge of conspiracy to possess a controlled substance with the intent to distribute it in exchange for other charges being dismissed.

Smith, 35, was sentenced to 151 months, or 12 1/2 years, in federal prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release. Hall, 48, was sentenced to 14 months, to be followedby two years of supervised release.

Smith admitted in April that between June 2008 and December 2009, he was a largescale supplier in the drug-trafficking ring, funneling more than 33 pounds of cocaine into the Helena-West Helena area from a Mexican supplier he met with in Dallas.

Smith admitted he set up at least eight drug-running trips between the two cities, and that the drugs were transported by car, in secret compartments.

Hughes and Hall were among those who admitted they obtained drugs from Smith in Helena-West Helena. Information for this article was contributed by Linda Satter of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 11 on 08/31/2012