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mostly in Fargo, witnesses said.
• Assistant U.S. Attorney Chris Myers recommended Wednesday that Royston be re-sentenced to 30 years in prison. Royston's lawyer asked for 20 years.
• Royston told the judge he deserved fewer than 13 years.
• "Mr. Myers blows it up like I'm some big-time drug dealer," Royston said. "I played a very minimal role, if I played a role at all."
• Myers and defense attorney Joseph Quinn argued about drug quantities. Myers said the government, in the original trial, needed to show that Royston was involved with 50 grams or more of cocaine, but could meet the new 280-gram threshold for a life sentence if there was a new trial.
• A presentence investigation backed Myers' claim, but Quinn said the evidence shows that Royston dealt in no more than 196 grams, compared to 700 grams by Ferris Lee, the alleged ringleader of the conspiracy.
• "Frankly, I'm at a loss at how this number was calculated, given the testimony at trial," Quinn said of the presentence report.
• Royston received the original life prison sentence even though Lee got 45 years because of a quirk in sentencing laws that required prosecutors to choose between competing charges. Steven Mottinger, Royston's original lawyer, argued that the discrepancy in the two sentences was unfair.
• Royston has since filed a legal malpractice suit against Mottinger. James Hill, Mottinger's attorney, called the suit frivolous.
• "Mottinger exercised that degree of skill, care, diligence and knowledge commonly possessed and exercised by reasonable, careful and prudent attorneys in the practice of law in the state of North Dakota," Hill said in court documents.
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