Terry Lee Kent, 32, was sentenced last week to 40 years in prison for drug dealing that led to the death of a Doug Delahay Woodburn, 19, of Leonardtown.
During sentencing on Thursday, Sept. 22, before visiting Judge C. Philip Nichols Jr., the victim’s mother, Amanda Woodburn, said Doug was her only child.
She thanked Sheriff Tim Cameron (R), his deputies and St. Mary’s County State’s Attorney Richard D. Fritz (R) for their help.
“He’s dead because of Terry Kent,” she said of Doug Woodburn, adding that she found her son face down on his comforter in August 2019.
She asked Nichols to stop Kent from killing again by giving him the toughest sentence possible.
“I’ve been representing St. Mary’s County for 20 years,” senior assistant state’s attorney John Stackhouse said. “This is not an overdose case. It is a case of poisoning. [Kent] was selling fentanyl. Doug thought he was buying heroin.”
Kent’s defense attorney, So Alexandria Chun, said Kent never met Doug Woodburn. “The state went after Kent instead of the young woman [Kristina Beggs] who gave the drugs to Doug. She’s out free,” Chun said.
Chun noted that Kent was sentenced for three separate incidents, all in 2019, that were combined at trial, one from August and two from December. Kent was convicted at trial in April of five felony counts of drug distribution, including four for cocaine and one for fentanyl.
“I’m getting the punishment for everybody else’s doing,” Kent said prior to sentencing. Referring to Beggs, Kent said, “She’s a white woman, and I’m a Black man,” adding that things would be different if their roles were reversed.
Kent pointed the finger at Dante Dean Thomas, who Kent said testified at trial that the drugs that killed Woodburn belonged to him. “There was never proof of me giving her anything,” Kent said, referring to Beggs.
“I agree with the state’s attorney,” Nichols said. “This is an above-guideline case,” noting Kent had “significant participation in a substance-abuse offense. Perhaps you can be a lesson to others ... hopefully another mother will not have to cry over the loss of a son.”
Nichols gave Kent 633 days of credit for time in jail served on a charge that was dismissed. “You may not be entitled to it, but I’m going to give it to you,” Nichols said.
Stackhouse said that Kent “was in jail for shooting Dante Thomas, a completely different case.”
Nichols sentenced Kent to 20 years consecutive on the first two counts and gave him a suspended 20-year sentence for the third count. The fourth and fifth counts were generally suspended with no time attached.
Kent, who was listed in court documents with addresses in Bushwood and California, will have to successfully complete five years of supervised probation upon his release.
Two counts related to dealing heroin and fentanyl were nolle prossed, or dismissed, by the state.
Kent faces another trial on Nov. 14 and 15 for drug distribution. That case stems from Feb. 13, 2020. He has been in jail since Dec. 28, 2020.
Submitted as a court document was an agreement between the state’s attorney and Beggs to cooperate in lieu of prosecution for two drug possession charges related to cocaine and prescription pills that she was allegedly in possession of on Oct. 8, 2019. The agreement was dated Nov. 20, 2019. It required that she cooperate with police on two controlled drug sales that led to two felony arrests.
Referring to Beggs, Chun said police found her with drugs in her bra that she planned to sell.
A letter from Stackhouse said Beggs had been convicted of three counts of theft of less than $1,000 and one count of conspiracy to commit robbery between 1996 and 2013. Two counts of driving on a suspended license in 2017 were placed on the court’s stet, or inactive, file in April 2019.
An interview of Beggs by Detective Cpl. David Potter and Deputy K. Meyer was submitted into evidence at trial. In the document, Beggs said she gave what she thought was cocaine and heroin to Woodburn when they worked at the McDonald’s restaurant in Leonardtown.
Thomas, 39 of Jessup pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute drugs on Dec. 28, 2019, the same date of one of Kent’s offenses. Thomas also pleaded guilty to one count of distribution of counterfeit drugs on July 16, 2020. He was sentenced for both cases on Sept. 22.
Thomas got a 10-year sentence for the first offense and a suspended one-year sentence for the second.
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