A former northeast Arkansas judge previously imprisoned for sending a live snake in the mail faces more time behind bars after he was convicted in a separate drug case.
Bob Sam Castleman is to be sentenced Friday in federal court in Little Rock. Prosecutors want the former Pocahontas district judge sentenced to at least 40 years in prison.
Castleman was among eight people charged with conspiracy to manufacture and distribute methamphetamine. He was convicted last December. Castleman's lawyer, Blake Hendrix, is asking the judge to sentence Castleman to no more than four years in prison.
In 2004, Castleman and his son pleaded guilty to mailing a live copperhead snake to a man who bought an ATV from the Castlemans and asked to have it repaired.
UPDATE From AP:
Federal prosecutors allege that a former northeast Arkansas judge once imprisoned for sending a live snake in the mail killed a witness in a drug case against him. Prosecutors argued Friday that former Pocahontas judge Bob Sam Castleman should spend the rest of his life in jail. He's being sentenced in federal court on a drug charge.
At the hearing, prosecutors worked to link Castleman to the 2013 death of Travis Perkins, a co-defendant lined up to testify against the ex-judge. Castleman has not been charged in Perkins' death. State prosecutors have said they will wait to see what happens in federal court.
Castleman's lawyer said prosecutors cannot prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the former judge killed Perkins to prevent him from testifying.
