#15681-018 
  
Federal Sentence: Life, reduced to 20 years
Offense: Conspiracy to distribute cocaine base (184.5 kg)
Court: 11th Circuit, Middle District of Florida, Tampa Division
Priors: None
Date of Sentencing: 7/21/93
Date of Birth: 2/3/66
Projected Release Date: 9/20/2010 
  
Nature of Offense: Sharvonne's ex-boyfriend was a crack kingpin.  She and her ex, Mathis, had a turbulent relationship and Sharvonne lived with him on and off during her pregnancy.  Eventually, their relationship failed, and she moved out for good.  Before she left him, however, she engaged in some activity on Mathis’ behalf: she once counted money, she occasionally let his employees drop off drugs at their home, and she relayed messages to and for him. 
 
After Sharvonne permanently moved out of Mathis’ home, the Mathis organization was busted and she was arrested.  As commonly happens under conspiracy laws, the prosecutor added up the amount of drugs possibly sold by each of the Mathis organization’s 30 employees and attributed the entire amount to Sharvonne even though the government acknowledged that Sharvonne was not a Mathis employee and never used or sold drugs.  Instead, the government pointed out that three of Sharvonne’s 31 co-defendants claimed she was present at one organizational meeting and therefore “actively involved in assisting in running the organization.”  (These witnesses received sentence reductions on the condition of providing incriminating testimony; several other co-defendants present at the meeting testified that Sharvonne was not at the meeting.)  Furthermore, Sharvonne’s sentence was enhanced because one of Mathis’ 30 employees possessed a gun.  She initially received a life sentence that was later reduced to 20 years.
 
Personal Background: Sharvonne was stung by allegations that she was involved in the drug ring.  Although her logic may be misguided, she feels that her few contacts with drug transactions stemmed from competing feelings of love and fear for Mathis.  There was a time when she wanted to do “wifely” things for him.  At least once, she warned him of approaching police.  More often, she answered the telephone and relayed messages as anyone would for their live-in boyfriend and notes that Mathis owned two legitimate businesses (a car wash and a carpet cleaning business). 
 
In Sharvonne’s mind, she kept herself separate from the drug business by not selling or profiting from drugs.  She worked as a school bus driver and diligently reported to work every weekday morning at 5:00 am.  She accepted only $75-$100 per week from Mathis.  When she finally left Mathis, she thought she had also left his drug business behind.  She had wanted to leave earlier, but Mathis had threatened to kill her if she left him.  Sharvonne's fear of Mathis was reasonable: the government reports that Mathis not only ordered a house to be razed to the ground, but he ordered the execution of his own brother.
 
Sharvonne has worked hard to better herself and maintain a positive attitude since her incarceration.  She has taken numerous educational and self-improvement courses and has never stopped challenging her unjust sentence.  While Sharvonne keeps a sunny disposition regarding her sentence and situation, she is troubled by the impact her incarceration has had on her family.  Sharvonne’s two children reside with her mother, who has recently suffered from two heart attacks, which Sharvonne feels may be attributable to the stress caused by her incarceration.  Her children are doing extremely well under the circumstances, but Sharvonne is concerned about her mother’s health and ability to continue caring for her children.