Convicted NY Indian reservation cigarette dealer to appeal
[an error occurred while processing this directive]CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. — An Indian reservation smoke shop owner convicted of being a major supplier of black market cigarettes also has been found guilty of a weapons charge.
The same jury had acquitted Rodney Morrison, 41, last week of nine counts that he waged a campaign of arson and murder to protect his multimillion dollar business.
The jurors returned to court on Monday to confirm that Morrison had a prior felony conviction which made it illegal for him to possess a handgun. He was arrested in 1991 in a negligent homicide and a felony drug offense case, prosecutors said.
The split verdict included a conviction of one racketeering count tied to the sale of untaxed cigarettes. Prosecutors claim Morrison sold millions of contraband cigarettes without the required state tax stamps.
Morrison, who runs the Peace Pipe Smoke Shop at the Poospatuck Indian reservation in Mastic, on eastern Long Island, faces up to 30 years in prison. Although not an American Indian, Morrison married into the tribe after living in Brooklyn.
His attorneys intend to appeal.
"We have to be satisfied about the nine acquittals," Morrison's attorney, William Murphy, said after the verdict. "We're going to work on the other counts. ... We're optimistic."
The jury on Long Island deliberated off and on for more than a month. The marathon trial began in November.
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