Drug smuggler loses appeal

A Coeur d’Alene drug smuggler who was sentenced in 2004 to 12 years in federal prison has lost his appeal for a lighter sentence.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Nate Norman’s argument that his prison sentence was “unreasonable” compared with the sentences given others in the marijuana smuggling case.

Norman was the kingpin in a drug ring that detectives say brought more than 17,000 pounds of B.C. bud across the border from Canada, generating $38 million. The operation was exposed after the body of 20-year-old Brendan Butler was found in November 2002 near Hayden Lake.

Butler was a rival drug smuggler who Kootenai County detectives said had hired others to intimidate and possibly kill Norman and co-defendant Ben Scozzaro.

Giovanni Mendiola was sentenced to eight years to life in prison for the killing.

Norman appealed a ruling by U.S. District Court, which refused to reconsider his sentence.

The Court of Appeals said the sentence Norman received was reasonable in a judgment filed this week with the U.S. District Court.

Two dozen people were indicted in connection with the pot smuggling operation.

In previous interviews with The Spokesman-Review, Norman said he made his first trip across the border in 2001 after reading in High Times magazine about cheap marijuana in Canada.

Norman estimated he personally made about $1.3 million smuggling drugs over two years – and spent just as much.

He is incarcerated at a federal prison in Safford, Ariz., and could be released in 2014.