Bryan Patrick Sweeney
Leonardtown, MD — A Hollywood man has been sentenced for selling “liquid morphine” to an undercover police officer. Patrick Sweeney, 23, was sentenced Feb. 19 to 18 months in the St. Mary’s County Detention Center by Circuit Court Judge Karen Abrams. The judge imposed a total sentence of six years but suspended four- and-a-half years of that sentence. Sweeney had pled guilty to the charge of narcotics distribution on Nov. 14, 2014.
Liquid morphine is mixed with heroin so it can be injected intravenously.
According to Sweeney’s attorney, public defender Kevin Hill, the defendant became addicted to pain killers after an accident when he was a teenager. Hill said the prescription medication was given to Sweeney by his father.
Hill had asked Judge Abrams to structure a sentence so that Sweeney could get into the Adult Recovery Court (drug court) program. But Judge Abrams noted that Sweeney would have had to apply for the program and get on a waiting list. “I don’t know how to structure a sentence that would initiate that,” the judge said.
Hill said he would have applied for his client sooner but he didn’t realize the extent of Sweeney’s addiction until reading the pre-sentence investigation by the Department of Parole and Probation.
Judge Abrams noted that Sweeney had been in and out of programs and had tested positive for drugs since his arrest. He also was charged with shoplifting. “I don’t see a real commitment on your part for recovery,” she said.
The sentencing guidelines for the crime were 18 months to four years and Senior State’s Attorney Joseph Stanalonis asked for a sentence within those guidelines. Judge Abrams imposed the six-year sentence above the guidelines but suspended all but the 18 months so that Sweeney could serve his time locally and have close-by family support. But she also said that Sweeney would have a large back-up time hanging over his head once he is released as an incentive “in case you screw up.”
The judge expressed sympathy for how Sweeney got addicted. She noted it was easy to get addicted but hard to kick the habit. She told Hill he could assist Sweeney in applying for the drug court program and also apply for work release for his client at a later date.
Sweeney will be on a three-year supervised probation once he is released from jail.
Contact Dick Myers at news@thebaynet.com