10 years in prison for Poospatuck cigarette magnate

Poospatuck Indian reservation cigarette magnate Rodney Morrison was sentenced Friday to 10 years in prison on a weapons charge, the maximum permitted under federal law.

U.S. District Judge Denis Hurley said he decided to impose the stiff sentence - departing sharply from federal sentencing guidelines - because of Morrison's previous criminal history and his character.

The judge said he still believes Morrison, former proprietor of the Peace Pipe Smoke Shop, was responsible for the killing of rival smoke-shop owner Sherwin Henry, even though a jury acquitted Morrison of murder in a 2008 trial.

But he characterized the sentence as serving to deter criminal conduct, saying he wasn't punishing Morrison for Henry's slaying.

Before Hurley pronounced sentence, Morrison asked for leniency. "I have learned from the experience. . . . I have respect for the law," said Morrison, 43, who has been jailed since his 2004 arrest because Hurley at that time ruled him a danger to the community.

Before and during the sentencing, Morrison showed no emotion. Afterward, he turned, smiled and waved to his wife, mother and other relatives in the courtroom.

Morrison's attorneys had asked that he be sentenced to the 6 years he already has served. That time will count toward the new 10-year penalty.

Afterward, Morrison's lead attorney, William Murphy, said his client was considering an appeal. Morrison's wife, Charolette, and mother, Myrna Read, declined to comment.

"I do think he does represent a significant risk if I gave him a [lesser] sentence," Hurley said in federal court in Central Islip. "I think he's fully capable of doing these type of things again."

Morrison, who made millions selling untaxed cigarettes on the Mastic reservation, has past convictions for drug possession, armed robbery and criminally negligent homicide. The homicide involved the death of a 6-year-old boy who was killed when Morrison fired a shotgun at a barn in Central Islip and the child was on the other side of the building, according to remarks in court and court records.

The weapons charge stemmed from Morrison, as a felon, being in possession of a gun. The judge said he calculated that a regular felon facing a gun charge probably would have faced a sentence of between 51/4 years and 61/2 years.

Federal prosecutors James Miskiewicz and John Durham declined to comment Friday.

In a separate but related legal action, prosecutors Friday filed a notice of appeal with the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals of Hurley's April 16 decision vacating Morrison's 2008 racketeering conviction.Hurley said he had erred in agreeing that Morrison had been fairly convicted of racketeering for bootlegging millions of dollars in untaxed cigarettes from the reservation.

The judge said an unrelated federal appeals court decision earlier this year appeared to question whether people who sell cigarettes on Indian reservations had adequate notice that they might be breaking the law.