LSD News: LSD Kingpins Given Harsh Sentences

   For Pickard, the judge ordered him locked up, and to throw away the
key. Apperson got 30 years with no chance of parole. Considering his
age, if he doesn't die in prison, he'll be a very old man when he is
freed.

http://www.cjonline.com/stories/112503/bre_lsd.shtml

Two men sentenced in LSD case

By Steve Fry
The Capital-Journal

The chemist who manufactured LSD in a clandestine lab and the man who
set up, tore down and transported the LSD lab were sentenced today in
U.S. District Court.

William Leonard Pickard, 58, Mill Valley, Calif., was sentenced to two
concurrent life terms in prison without parole, and Clyde Apperson, 48,
Sunnyvale, Calif., was sentenced to two 30-year sentences without
parole. Pickard and Apperson were convicted March 31 on felony charges
of conspiracy and possession of LSD with intent to distribute more than
10 grams.

Pickard and Apperson requested that each be incarcerated at a federal
prison facility at Lompoc, Calif., because their families live in
California. District Judge Richard Rogers told them he would recommend
their imprisonment at the California prison, but the U.S. Bureau of
Prisons will decide where to house each man.

The sentence announcements followed a two-and-a-half day hearing in
which the defendants challenged a federal Drug Enforcement Agency
chemist's calculations of how much LSD was seized. Federal officials
said that evidence of liquid and powder LSD, an LSD by-product and two
precursors to LSD showed that it would have produced an estimated 2.8
billion doses of LSD.

Pickard and Apperson, each with his legs shackled and wearing the orange
coveralls of a federal prisoner, sat side by side during the sentencing.
As he was sentenced, Pickard leaned his head on two fingers, his face
flushed and his chin quivered. Apperson was expressionless while he was
being sentenced.

Neither man had any supporters in the courtroom when he was sentenced.
Two news reporters and several federal investigators watched the
proceeding.

In sentencing Pickard, Rogers said he had very little discretion in
imposing two life sentences once he learned the amount of drugs linked
to the case and that Pickard had two prior drug convictions.

Before he was sentenced, Pickard made a lengthy statement to Rogers,
saying he had authority from the federal government to communicate with
drug traffickers and manufacturers in 1997 and that his job description
with the state of California specifically included interviewing drug
manufacturers and traffickers.

Pickard said that he told a DEA special agent and an assistant U.S.
attorney that Gordon Todd Skinner was concealing a chemist and a
laboratory tied to the drug ecstasy. Skinner was linked to the LSD case
and testified against Pickard and Apperson during the LSD trial. Federal
officials didn't take action with the information, Pickard told the
judge.

"I leave you with those thoughts, sir," Pickard said to Rogers.

Apperson could have been sentenced to 10 years in prison. In sentencing
Apperson, Rogers had to decide whether there were factors that would
increase the sentence.

Rogers found that Apperson played a significant role in the drug case
but didn't have the same leadership role as Pickard and didn't receive
the same share of money as Pickard. Rogers said the amount of LSD was at
the top of the drug quantity table in the federal sentencing guidelines.

Evidence shows that a "considerable amount" of drug was made at a former
missile silo near Ellsworth and earlier at a site in Santa Fe, N.M.

Apperson, who appeared to have lost 30 to 40 pounds since the trial
ended March 31, sought a shorter sentence, saying he had a minor role in
the production of the LSD.

Pickard and Apperson will appeal their convictions, their defense
attorneys said Tuesday.

Apperson would be eligible to earn up to 54 days of "good time" each
year, meaning he could be released after serving about 25 years six
months. The good time doesn't apply to Pickard's life sentence.

Steve Fry can be reached at (785) 295-1206 or [EMAIL PROTECTED]