Trevor Graham handed sentence

Ex-track coach confined to home

RALEIGH -- A federal judge has sentenced former track coach Trevor Graham of Raleigh to one year of home confinement and five years of probation for lying to federal agents -- far short of the 10-month prison sentence sought by prosecutors.

Graham, 45, who once coached disgraced Olympian Marion Jones, was convicted in late May on one of three felony charges for making false statements about his contacts with a steroids supplier in the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative case. A jury in U.S. District Court in Northern California couldn't decide unanimously to convict Graham on two other charges of lying.

Graham also must pay a $5,000 fine under the sentence handed down by U.S. District Court Judge Susan Illston.

"I don't view sending Mr. Graham to prison as a useful exercise for this government at this time," Illston was quoted by Bloomberg News on Tuesday at a hearing in San Francisco.

Graham is the second defendant convicted of lying in the federal steroids probe to escape a jail sentence in the past two weeks. Illston gave Tammy Thomas, a former world-class cyclist, six months' home confinement and probation Oct. 10. Baseball player Barry Bonds faces trial in March for lying about steroids.

Bloomberg News quoted Illston as saying Graham deserved a tougher sentence than Thomas because testimony at trial showed Graham had "provided his athletes with steroids." The jury couldn't agree on whether Graham had provided his athletes with performance-enhancing drugs, and federal prosecutors dropped those charges after a mistrial was declared.

Graham didn't deserve the 10 months in prison that prosecutors sought, Ilston said, because he helped investigators by anonymously sending a syringe containing steroids to anti-doping officials.

Lawyers for both sides could not be reached Tuesday night.

In a brief filed Friday, federal prosecutors scoffed at Graham's sentencing request of probation and community service.

"The defendant's Sentencing Memorandum is only noteworthy for what it does not say. There is still absolutely no acceptance of responsibility or remorse by this defendant," the brief stated.

U.S. attorneys argued that Jones had been sentenced to six months in prison and 400 hours of community service for similar conduct, though Graham's lawyers noted that she had also falsely denied knowledge of a check-fraud scheme involving her ex-husband, Tim Montgomery, a former world record-holder whom Graham trained as well.

In their response to Graham's Sentencing Memorandum, prosecutors found incredulous the request that the judge consider the hardships already endured by Graham, who was banned for life by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency.

The ban prevents him from being involved in competitions or activities organized by the U.S. Olympic Committee, USA Track & Field and other governing bodies.

"Leniency to this defendant because of his lost reputation is like leniency to a thief who stole money and then had the government seize that money and return it to the victims," prosecutors wrote.

William Keane and Paul Alsdorf, who represented Graham, had argued that their client did not obstruct justice and that his rise from poverty in Jamaica was "inspiring." Their sentencing memorandum included letters of support from Graham's wife Ann, a Wake County deputy sheriff, and Terry Reese Jr., an assistant track coach at N.C. State.