ROBERT Chambers is about to begin a 19-year stretch in the big house for illegal narcotics activity. If you were a visitor from another country or, better yet, another planet, you might think that Robert Chambers is New York’s very own drug kingpin, akin to Pablo Escobar.
When Chambers and his girlfriend, Shawn Kovel, were arrested last winter, Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau vowed that Chambers would “spend the rest of his life behind bars.” On Monday, Chambers, 41, opted for a plea bargain that will see him put away for what will probably be the last productive years of his life.
Chambers last took a felony plea bargain in 1988. Back then, the very same Manhattan DA was willing to offer him a much sweeter deal: a paltry five-to-15 years for the sordid death of Jennifer Levin.
That was for a homicide. Now he’s getting much more prison time for a nonviolent drug-law violation under New York’s notorious Rockefeller drug laws. Something is just not right here.
Even under New York’s questionable classification standards, Chambers is in no way a “kingpin.” In truth, he’s nothing more than a hopeless and hapless drug addict.
The DA knows that. So does every other law-enforcement officer involved in his arrest. If he was such a big-time drug dealer, why didn’t he have any cash when he was arrested? And why were he and his girlfriend five months behind in paying their rent and on the pre- cipice of eviction?
Why treat Chambers as if he were a drug kingpin when he isn’t? I can tell you why. This case is a cheap publicity gimmick by the DA’s office. Rank claptrap. Period.
This is not to defend Chambers for what took place in Central Park 20 years ago. It is about Chambers being sentenced to more time now for a nonviolent drug offense than he did for a homicide.
His girlfriend, Shawn, is in rehab, getting the drug treatment she needs. Yet she was probably just as culpable. Why wasn’t Chambers offered the same chance at recovery instead of going to prison?
After graduating from the rancid New York prison system, Chambers was in no shape to re-enter society. Ostracized and unable to get work, he fell back into the deep throes of drug addiction.
Chambers was selling small bags of drugs to feed his habit when the police got wind of it from an informant. They did their best to entice him into selling them something big to satisfy the amount required for the big pinch. But he didn’t have the wherewithal to pull off such a transaction.
After more coaxing from undercover agents, the whacked-out Chambers got his supplier to front him a few ounces of cocaine. The supplier agreed on the conditions that he remain close by in an adjoining room during the transaction and not give Chambers the drugs until he gave him the money, which Chambers got from the undercover cop.
Shortly thereafter Chambers and his girlfriend were arrested – while the supplier, the real drug dealer, got away. So what happened to him?
The supervising prosecutor, Dan Rather Jr., was involved in another high-profile drug case a few years back: the case of Julia “pot princess” Diaco – the NYU drug distributor whose widespread operation was way up the ladder from the lowly dime-bag dealing that supported Chambers’ habit.
But Diaco came from a wealthy family – unlike the destitute Chambers. And she was sent to rehab, with the charges dropped.
Chambers now joins thousands of other poor, low-level addicts – mainly black and Latinos – serving impossibly long prison terms for minor drug infractions.
Let’s be honest. Robert Chambers isn’t going to prison for his drug offenses. Rather, he’s going to prison for the death of Jennifer Levin – again.
Randy Credico is the Director of the William Moses Kunstler Fund for Racial Justice and co-founder of Mothers of the NY Disappeared.