Judge refuses to reduce prison sentence for infamous ‘medicinal botanist’ in New Kent

A New Kent Circuit Court judge has denied a motion to reduce a five-year prison sentence imposed in 2011 on John Steven Carter, the self-proclaimed “medicinal botanist” who last gained notoriety for maintaining a sophisticated marijuana “grow room” in his Lanexa rental home and killing one of four teens who attempted to rob him back in 2008.

Monday morning, Judge Richard Atlee denied the motion by Carter’s attorney, Joey Caprio, to either suspend the prison time or have the five years run concurrently with a 10-year federal sentence that Carter is now serving in New Jersey. Caprio told the judge that Carter, who did not appear Monday, is in poor health and additional time would further degrade his client’s medical condition.

Carter still has close to seven years remaining on the 10-year federal sentence that was imposed for weapons and drug violations incurred back in 2004 in Florida. He is to be returned to Virginia to serve the five years imposed in New Kent once he completes the federal prison term. Monday’s proceedings applied only to reducing prison time handed down in New Kent, not on the federal level.

Caprio argued that the 61-year-old defendant’s health issues could cost the commonwealth more than $100,000 over the five years to be served in Virginia. When Carter was sentenced in 2011, it was revealed that he suffers from diabetes, heart trouble, asthma, arthritis, and glaucoma.

Commonwealth’s Attorney Linwood Gregory rebutted the proposal, commenting on the case’s background and the danger, he said, Carter still presents to society. Atlee, who replaced the late Judge Thomas Nance who presided over Carter’s trials in New Kent, agreed with Gregory’s assessment.

“Despite his age and despite his health issues, I find that Mr. Carter is still a threat to society,” Atlee said. “If I reduced his sentence, it would be a conflict of interest.

“He would endanger society and I find that his background of being a convicted felon to be sufficient to keep him incarcerated,” continued the judge. “I deny the motion to reconsider his sentence.”

Carter first ran afoul of the law in New Kent more than 30 years ago. He was convicted in 1982 for conspiracy to murder a state ABC agent and possession of a machine gun. He served four years of a seven-year sentence for the crimes.

In 2006, he signed the name of a deceased co-conspirator from the 1982 incident, William Benton, on a pair of New Kent traffic summonses. Those felonies were not prosecuted at the time since Carter could not be found.

Then on Oct. 14, 2008, four Williamsburg area teens showed up at a rental house at 15600 Pocahontas Trail in Lanexa where Carter was living under the Benton name. One of the teens wielded a shotgun and was shot to death by Carter who hid the body in the back yard.

Authorities discovered the body the next day, but by then Carter had fled the area. The full extent of the incident did not come to light until 11 days later when the house’s owner discovered the “grow room,” complete with 346 marijuana plants, hidden behind a false wall upstairs in the two-story structure.

Carter eluded capture until March 18, 2009 when police found him hiding in a house near a small town in southern Alabama. Federal authorities were first in line to prosecute the fugitive for the Florida crimes.

The next year, Carter was returned to New Kent where he stood trial in October 2010 and was found guilty on one count each of marijuana manufacturing and marijuana possession with intent to distribute. At another trial in December, he was convicted on two counts each of forgery and uttering in connection with the 2006 traffic summonses. He did not face prosecution for killing the teen since the incident was ruled self-defense.

Carter was handed the five-year active prison term during sentencing for the six felony charges on Feb. 1, 2011. Thirteen years of suspended time continue to hang over his head.