Ravenel has court date today

COLUMBIA — Suspended state Treasurer Thomas Ravenel is scheduled to make his first court appearance on a federal cocaine charge here today, two days after he was released from a 30-day stay at a rehabilitation program in Arizona.

Ravenel's attorneys entered a not-guilty plea for the 44-year-old multimillionaire developer earlier this month, but Ravenel did not appear in court at the time. U.S. Magistrate Joseph McCrorey ordered Ravenel to appear in court within 48 hours of being released from treatment at the Sierra Tucson Center in Catalina, north of Tucson. It is a psychiatric hospital specializing in addiction and behavioral disorder treatment. He was released Sunday.

Ravenel is charged with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute less than 500 grams of cocaine. Prosecutors have said Ravenel shared the cocaine with friends and did not sell the drug. Ravenel is free on a $100,000 unsecured bond, the same bail set for his co-defendant, Michael Miller, who remains in Charleston County jail.

Miller also pleaded not guilty earlier this month to the same federal charge, but he has a preliminary hearing Thursday on a state cocaine-trafficking charge.

The case began with the indictment June 19 and quickly became a national story, as Ravenel was suspended by Gov. Mark Sanford and lost his job as Rudy Giuliani's South Carolina chairman. It also led to Internet buzz, including a YouTube video, "Thomas Ravenel Cocaine Remix," and the creation of bogus MySpace pages for both men.

"These cases are sensational when you have a high-status individual and the contrast of an individual that is not in the same economic stature," said Ken Gaines, a law professor at the University of South Carolina.

Addiction treatments vary but typically include intensive therapy to teach skills to decline and resist urges and help users learn the physical changes that occur in the brain with drug use, said Suzanne Thomas, director of Addiction, Education and Outreach at the Center for Drug and Alcohol Programs, which is affiliated with the Medical University of South Carolina.

Many community and private treatment agencies also rely on the 12-step model created by Alcoholics Anonymous, which teaches abstinence from substance abuse by taking one day at a time.

"Addiction is a treatable disease," Thomas said. "People can recover."

The federal charge against both Ravenel and Miller carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in jail and $1 million fine. The judge, however, can take into consideration a number of other factors such as prior record and treatment.

Gaines said the differences between Ravenel and Miller are playing out, illustrated by the places they've each found themselves.

Miller, who has been appointed a public defender, is in state custody in Charleston County and has not posted his $50,000 bail. U.S. Attorney Reggie Lloyd said at the men's arraignment July 6 that both will be treated the same.

"They will both be treated fairly, not only by us but by the courts," Lloyd said. "They will both get very good representation."

Jim Coleman, a law professor at Duke University School of Law, said the Internet and its blogs and unsigned Web sites create a new dynamic. "In the Duke lacrosse case, I think it was helpful that bloggers kept the pressure on, asserting the students were innocent or denied a fair investigation," Coleman said.

Jury selection in the Ravenel and Miller case will begin Sept. 5.

Reach Yvonne M. Wenger at ywenger@postandcourier.com or 803-799-9051.