The biggest coke dealer in last year’s roundup of five Columbia university students turned himself in to serve 3 1/2 months at Rikers this morning, first giving an emotional courtroom hug to his dad, a Boston-area plastic surgeon.
It could have been a year in state prison for 20-year-old Harrison David, had prosecutors had their way.
The citywide Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor had recommended David serve a full year with two years probation, arguing that the third-year engineering student sold a hefty quantity to undercovers — two sales totaling $1,300 for just under five grams.
Instead, he was sentenced to six months jail this morning, but that will work out to only 3 1/2 months, factoring in good behavior and the two weeks he’d already served when his dad refused to bail him out immediately upon his arrest in December.
“It’s not too bad,” defense lawyer Matthew Myers said of the jail deal. “At least not for those of us who don’t actually have to serve it.”
Once out of jail, David will serve five years probation and start applying for schools — a “difficult proposition,” his lawyer said, given his new felony drug sale record.
Charges remain against the remainder of the “Columbia Cartel,” David’s four young fellow students, who are charged with selling felony-weight quantities of coke, pot and pills out of their frats and university apartments.
Prosecutors have said they would agree to no-jail deals for them providing the four still plead guilty to felony drug charges.