Danton - Former hockey player denied prison transfer

Two articles, both from the Belleville [IL] News-Democrat--

Danton is denied prison transfer
Former Blues player serving time for plot
BY JIM SUHR
Associated Press

EAST ST. LOUIS - The U.S. government has rejected former St. Louis
Blues player Mike Danton's request to be transferred to his native
Canada to serve out a federal prison sentence for his foiled attempt
to have his agent killed, saying the move "would not serve the ends of
justice."

The decision -- made last week by the Justice Department's
prisoner-transfer unit and revealed Wednesday in federal court filings
here -- assures that Danton will stay put as inmate No. 10096-111 at a
prison in Fort Dix, N.J., at least for now.

A Danton attorney pledged Thursday to continue appealing.

Danton had enlisted the help of Katie Wolfmeyer of Florissant, Mo., to
find a hitman to kill his agent David Frost, according to prosecutors.
Wolfmeyer then contacted Justin Levi Jones, a part-time Columbia
Police dispatcher, who later notified authorities.

The case was prosecuted in the federal courthouse in East St. Louis.

When Danton, 25, was sentenced in 2004 to 7 1/2 years after pleading
guilty to murder conspiracy charges, prosecutors agreed not to oppose
Danton's deportation to Canada, where he said he wanted to get
behind-bars surgical treatment for a shoulder injury and therapy for
what his sentencing request called his "grave mental disorders."

Danton sued the U.S. government last November, fuming that he unfairly
has not been transferred to Canada and arguing that "similarly
situated applicants have been approved for removal to their home
nations, which include Canada." Danton asked to be resentenced.

The Justice Department countered that Danton waived his right to
appeal by pleading guilty in July 2004 to orchestrating a conspiracy
to commit an interstate killing targeting Frost. The government also
has insisted no regulations require action on international transfers
within a specified time, and that Danton's deal did not require a
transfer, only that he be considered for one.

In a letter dated March 24 to the Correctional Service of Canada,
Paula Wolff -- chief of the Justice Department's international
prisoner-transfer unit -- announced that Danton's transfer bid had
been scuttled "after considering all appropriate factors involved in
this matter."

Wolff called the action just "because transfer in this case would not
serve the ends of justice and because of the seriousness of the
offense."

Wolff wrote that Danton could reapply for transfer in two years, with
that application "more likely to be approved in the future if the
prisoner has maintained the best possible prison record and has
attempted to address those reasons for denial over which the prisoner
has some control." Wolff did not elaborate.

One of Danton's attorneys, Howard Kieffer of Santa Ana, Calif., called
Wolff's letter a "form letter" too vague to have much legal meaning to
his client. Kieffer said he would continue asking U.S. District Judge
William Stiehl to resentence Danton -- perhaps to time already served.

In September 2004, a federal jury here acquitted Wolfmeyer, 19, of
Florissant, Mo., of charges she took part in the plot.

http://www.belleville.com/mld/belleville/14229785.htm


BACKGROUND: Danton case characters get on with their lives
(05/02/2005)
BY BETH HUNDSDORFER

A year after former Blues player Michael Danton was arrested in a
murder-for-hire scheme, others involved in the trial are getting on
with their lives.

Danton was arrested after a playoff game loss in San Jose, Calif., on
April 17, 2004. Katie Wolfmeyer, his sometime girlfriend and college
student, had been held by federal agents since the night before.

Their crime?

Federal agents said they colluded to hire part-time Columbia police
dispatcher Justin "Levi" Jones to kill Danton's agent, David Frost,
for $10,000.

Danton pleaded guilty; Wolfmeyer was acquitted, and their paths
forever diverged.

When she was arrested April 15, Wolfmeyer worked three part-time jobs
and attended St. Louis Community College at Florissant Valley on a
volleyball scholarship.

During her trial five months after her arrest, Wolfmeyer became known
for her affinity for purple and her ponytail tied with a ribbon.
Reports about her appeared on television, radio and magazines around
the nation and in Canada --- Danton's home country.

"It was a lot for her, all the cameras and the attention," Katie's
father, Patrick Wolfmeyer said. "A couple of those reporters were hard
for me to take, but mostly, people were very sympathetic to her."

The night she was acquitted Sept. 20, the blonde, 19-year-old attended
a party at her church to celebrate. She briefly considered an offer
from a television tabloid to fly to New York and tell her story, but
decided against it, her father said.

It was time for the college student to return to her life. She
continued playing volleyball, and was named to the National Junior
College Athletic Association's All-Regional Team.

"Throughout the whole thing, she only missed one game on the day she
was found not guilty of the charges in federal court," Patrick
Wolfmeyer said.

Now Wolfmeyer is working a part-time job and finishing her associate's
degree. She plans to complete her nursing education at a local
college.

"We couldn't afford to send her away," he added.

Paying off legal bills has cost the family tens of thousands of
dollars, Wolfmeyer said, and left a lot of resentment.

"I don't like to talk about it," he said. "I get really bitter."

Meanwhile, Mike Danton's guilty plea drew him a 7 1/2 -year prison
sentence. Prosecutors agreed not to oppose his efforts to serve part
of it in Canada.

Danton began his sentence at Allenwood Federal Correctional Center, a
low-security federal prison in White Deer, Pa. He has since been
transferred to Fort Dix Federal Correctional Institution, another
low-security prison in New Jersey.

Pay Danton could earn from a prison job is $17 a month --- a far cry
from his $500,000-a-year contract with the Blues. Danton, who
previously rented a plush apartment in Brentwood, Mo., now sleeps in a
dorm-style room with 12 to 40 other inmates.

Under the terms of his guilty plea, it is unlikely Danton would be
allowed to return to the United States, which essentially ends his
hockey career. Information was not available about whether he has
completed his application to return to Canada to serve his sentence.

The government's star witness, former Columbia police dispatcher
Justin "Levi" Jones, began a new career after testifying Wolfmeyer and
Danton tried to hire him to kill Frost.

In October, Jones left for Navy basic training at Great Lakes Naval
Base near Chicago. He is stationed at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina,
according to his former boss, Columbia Police Chief Joe Edwards.

Frost, who could not be reached for comment, continues to insist to
the Canadian press he was not the target of murder-for-hire plot. He
began coaching Danton and former National Hockey League player Sheldon
Keefe when they were in a junior hockey league.

Danton became estranged from his parents, and later alleged they were
neglectful and abusive. He changed his name to Danton. His father,
Steve Jefferson, who once called Frost "the best thing that ever
happened to my kid," later called Frost a "monster," who controlled
his son. Frost filed suit against Jefferson in Canadian courts for
defamation, according to the Ottawa Sun.

In November, Frost was banned from attending a Canadian youth hockey
league's games and practices.

The ban follows an incident in Jim Durrell Arena in Ottawa in which
Frost entered an area off limits to fans, a league news release said,
adding that Frost accosted, harassed and threatened an junior hockey
league official.

http://www.belleville.com/mld/belleville/14232222.htm

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Anne
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http://www.goodsol.com/cats/
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