Sen. Orrin Hatch said he urged a presidential commutation of rapper John Forte's 14-year prison sentence on drug dealing charges because the musician is a "genius" who doesn't use drugs.
"He was no risk to society because he was not a drug user," Hatch, a Utah Republican, said Tuesday. "And, frankly, he's a genius."
Last month, President Bush commuted the sentence of Forte, a record producer who worked on The Fugees' Grammy-winning 1996 album, The Score. Forte is expected to be released from prison this month.
In 2001, Forte was arrested at a New Jersey airport in possession of 31 pounds of liquid cocaine, with an estimated street value of $1.4 million.
Forte was convicted and sentenced to 14 years -- the mandatory minimum under federal sentencing guidelines. But he'll only serve about half that time because of the commutation after intervention by some powerful allies, including singer Carly Simon.
Simon, whose son attended school with Forte, made an appeal to Hatch, who writes songs -- including one performed by Simon.
The six-term Republican, in Salt Lake City Tuesday to promote a campaign preventing child exploitation on the Internet, said he spoke to Simon and Forte's mother. Then Hatch said he spoke to "the appropriate people" at the U.S. Department of Justice.
Hatch said what Forte did was "terribly wrong" and he deserved to go to prison. But Hatch said Forte would have received a much lesser sentence had he pleaded guilty and 14 years is a longer sentence than the average drug dealer receives.
"He's a brilliant young man who was serving no good purpose in prison other than to teach guitar lessons to other inmates," Hatch said.
In written correspondence published last week in the Star-Ledger of New Jersey, Forte said: "Senator Hatch is a superhero of a mentor to me. I am looking forward to putting our creative minds together in the studio, sooner rather than later."
Asked about the Utah federal drug case of hip-hop record producer Weldon Angelos, who received a 55-year prison term for selling marijuana while carrying a handgun, Hatch said there were clear differences with the Forte matter. He said he was not compelled to act in that case, in part, because Angelos was a drug user.
Hatch said he has not spoken to Forte personally but hopes to soon. Hatch said he has told Forte's mother he will "read the riot act" to Forte to ensure he stays out of trouble.
Reach Nate Carlisle at ncarlisle(at)sltrib.com.
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