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Heroin dealer flies into rage after sentencing

Mike Miller  —  5/09/2008 4:16 pm

Adrian Starks flew into a rage Friday as Dane County Circuit Judge Patrick Fiedler sentenced him to 24 years in prison for causing two deaths by heroin dealing in Madison in 2005, screamed "F--- you!" to the judge and tipped over a large water cooler as he stormed from the courtroom as bailiffs struggled to get him under control.

Earlier in the hearing, Starks maintained he was innocent of the two counts of homicide by heroin dealing that a jury found him guilty of, and also denied being the large-scale heroin dealer that Assistant District Attorney Brian Asmus described him as, both in the trial and at Friday's sentencing hearing.

But he lost it completely after Fiedler announced that Starks must serve 12 years in prison for selling the heroin which eventually killed Michael Ace, 31, who died in April of 2005 and Sara Stellner, 20, who died in May of 2005.

Grabbing the microphone on the defense table, Starks screamed something inaudible and followed that with a loud "F--- you!," directed at Fiedler. As he arose from his chair, bailiffs moved toward him but Starks was able to get toward the door leading to the lock-up for prisoners on the eighth floor of the Dane County Courthouse. By then bailiffs appeared to have him under control but Starks was able to move enough to push toward the courtroom water cooler, knocking it off its pedestal onto the floor.

Meanwhile, Stellner's parents sat in silence on the other side of the courtroom while relatives and friends of Starks, known on the streets as "Big Homey," began to weep loudly. "What are we suppose to do without him," sobbed his mother. Several of the Starks contingent left the courtroom and bailiffs managed to get Starks out and locked into a special wheelchair-like device for unruly prisoners.

Fiedler remained on the bench throughout the turmoil and while almost all of Starks' family and friends left the courtroom, his mother cried uncontrollably throughout the ordeal.

She finally calmed down with the help of relatives, friends and soothing words from a bailiff.

Fiedler then discussed with bailiffs whether they felt the remaining few seconds of the proceeding could be held with Starks in the same courtroom, or whether it should be moved to a more secure courtroom. After bailiffs spoke to him, Starks was wheeled back into the courtroom shackled into the wheelchair, and it took only about another minute to complete the sentencing.

Starks answered "yes, sir," to Fiedler when asked if he understood his appeals rights and the proceeding came to an end.

Under Wisconsin's so-called truth in sentencing law, Starks will serve the entirety of his two 12-year prison terms, to run consecutively, and will then be on extended supervision until he reaches the age of 69.

It was obvious that prison was in the offing for Starks as the hearing opened with Asmus telling the judge that he Starks was "dealing in death" by selling heroin to dealers who in turn sold it to users.

Starks, Asmus said, was a major player in heroin dealing in Chicago, Madison and Minneapolis. "This is the farthest up the chain we've gone in Dane County in a Len Bias case," Asmus said. Len Bias was a star basketball player at Maryland who died from a cocaine overdose shortly after being drafted number one by the Boston Celtics, and his death spurred the passage of laws in Wisconsin and other states that allows for anyone who is involved in delivering a drug which kills a user to be convicted of first degree reckless homicide, as was Starks.

Asmus recommended a sentence of 30 years in prison for Starks followed by 10 years of extended supervision.

Attorney John Koberstein, who represented Starks, agreed that a prison term was appropriate but asked Fiedler to limit it to five years behind bars followed by 15 years of extended supervision. "I don't know that there is any evidence that my client is the big supplier," he said.

Koberstein also said that those who use drugs are responsible for what happens to them. "I don't mean this to be hurtful to anybody but these things don't happen in a vacuum," he said.

Starks, speaking rapidly, tried to assure the Stellners that he was sorry for their daughter's death even as he insisted he was not the one who sold the drugs which killed her. "I feel your pain for the loss of your loved one," he said, but insisted "I'm innocent of this crime."

He also suggested that he was being targeted as the big dealer because he is black, and told Fiedler he should receive "the same sentence as all my white counterparts did."

Starks was charged after two local heroin dealers, Lavinia Mull and Dennis Dickinson, admitted to police that Starks was their Chicago-based supplier for the heroin they were selling in Madison. Mull and Dickinson were charged after the friends of Ace and Stellner, who had bought the drugs which killed those two, told police that Mull and Dickinson were their sources.

Mike Miller  —  5/09/2008 4:16 pm