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Peter Rose
AMHERST — Former Amherst County football star and Virginia Tech hopeful Peter Rose was expected, under state sentencing guidelines, to leave court Wednesday as a free man, but as a convicted felon.
Rose, who was found guilty in a trial earlier this year of two misdemeanor charges and two felony charges of selling drugs to an undercover Amherst County Sheriff’s deputy, instead left with a 30-day sentence and only misdemeanor convictions.
His attorney, Joseph Sanzone, said the court’s leniency could allow Rose to get the financial aid he needs to go to college since felons are typically ineligible for government assistance and other scholarships.
“Peter can redeem himself,” Sanzone said. “He can do things to make us proud of him.”
After the verdict, those who had packed the courtroom poured out into the lobby, cheering and thanking God.
“I thank the Lord for freeing my son,” John Rose said.
The charges, filed in May, stemmed from a deal Rose made in late April to sell a quarter of an ounce of marijuana to a young deputy who had posed as a student at the high school for nearly a year, according to testimony at his trial. He sold a similar amount to the deputy again on May 7.
As Amherst County’s quarterback in 2006 and 2007, Rose led the Lancers to two state titles. Before his arrest, The Associated Press and Virginia High School League Association named him the Virginia Group AA Player of the Year.
He had been recruited to play cornerback at Virginia Tech. That scholarship offer was revoked after Rose was arrested and charged with two misdemeanor counts of distributing marijuana and two felony counts of selling the drug within 1,000 feet of a school.
Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Cary Payne argued against setting aside the felonies. Payne said he supported a probation-only sentence, but stressed that Rose had arranged the drug deals in the parking lot at Amherst County High School and completed them at the McDonald’s on U.S. 60, within 1,000 feet of Amherst Elementary School.
During two hours of testimony, former coaches, teachers and others who had watched him grow up testified Rose was well mannered and talented beyond his success on the football field.
Former Amherst County High football coach and current Washington & Lee head coach Scott Abell said he was devastated to hear Rose had been arrested. Abell said Rose had made stupid mistakes during a three-week period of his life, but had “the character to come back and make good for his mistakes.”
Rose testified Wednesday the only time he had ever sold drugs was to the undercover deputy, to which Payne replied, “That’s got to suck.”
Rose said his family had always struggled financially. He had money in his pocket, knew a man was dealing drugs in his neighborhood and saw an opportunity to make easy money, he said.
“Temptation came and I failed,” he said.
Judge Michael Gamble said Rose will have to serve about 15 days of his 30-day jail sentence.
Gamble said he would dismiss a remaining felony drug charge against Rose as long as he completes 100 hours of community service, undergoes a substance abuse assessment and any required treatment, remains on good behavior and passes any drug tests.
The judge said he would consider suspending some of those requirements should Rose be accepted into college.
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All I keep hearing is how Peter Rose was a superstar. How he lead ACHS to championships two years straight. Well he was not the only one on that field for two years. He was one of many that worked together and had an excellent coach to lead them. I do not believe he was any more special then any of the other students at ACHS. They are all special and have their own talents in their on way. What really upsets me about all of this is that people think he should be treated differently then all the others. I do not hear any of these comments for the many others that were caught selling drugs. The statements are that he sold them this once and it happened to be to an undercover officer. But the article itself states that it was done twice (in April and again in May). Who’s to believe that it was once. Maybe it was just once that he was caught. I also know that this young man was a hero to our younger children, that he spoke to elem. children against drugs then they see that he is caught selling them. What about all of the others that believed in him. I am not rich, and there are alot of other families that are in the same boat, but our children are not out there selling drugs. They are out there working very hard for what they get. My children and many other teenagers are out there working jobs and working very hard in school to be able to get the oppurtunity that Peter Rose threw away. Now he is given this oppurtunity again. I hope he realizes what he has this time. I want to praise this judge for finially seeing petitial in people and giving them a choice to improve. I believe in his decission and would love to hear more like these, not just lock them all up and throw away the key. These are children who can learn from their mistakes. Now as for Amherst Sherriff’s Dept. I am very glad to see the undercover officer in the school. I hope they have more this year and years to come. I’m glad to see my tax money finially at work. It doesn’t seem to be often that we see our money being used in the way it should be used.
First I would like to say that it is a blessing that he was able to get a light sentence. Now lets all be real about this. I blaim the school system, whatever happened to informing this students, bringing them in and telling them what has been going on in the school. Basically a warning up front. If it continues to happen after the warning has been giving, it’s on the students to accept the punishment. Now, I feel that this young man(OUTSTANDING FOOTBALL PLAYER) was used. Why did they wait until he after he led the school to another state title before arresting him. Oh, they wanted to wait, if so, why not wait until the young man graduates from high school and then make it happen. Just another kid used and thrown to the wolves after the school has gotten what they wanted out of him, 2 state titles.
I totally agree with what CutiePie said. He made a mistake. He is being punished. BUT, he is being punished a lot more by people than he is by the law. This poor kid, while he DID make a mistake, will NEVER be able to live it down in this town because of people not being able to realize that he made a mistake and did a stupid (albeit illegal) thing. He is a fantastic athlete and I hope that he can overcome this terrible event in his life and go on to make something out of himself. We have ALL made mistakes in our lives, especially in our younger years. Remember that old saying about ‘people who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones’? I wish him and his entire family good luck and good wishes.
No Martha, I believe it was “Montana”, pronounced, of course, with the “nya” sound at the end.
Is in, “Jew wan me to take care ob it mang, I take care of it fo jew mang!“
But we digress. I think what we see in some posters here is the old crabs in the bucket syndrome. The kid had a talent and the whole world was about to break his way. The police knew he was smoking pot for over a year. He was a minor. They saw a chance to bring down a big fish, but, not until his 18th birthday. So they spent enormous amounts of taxpayers money, planted a full time undercover chippie in the school and fished until he was no longer a minor. In the end, the fishing trip, boat rental, equipment and time spent at sea proved not worth the effort.
Back to the “Bucket-O-Crabs”. Whenever one crab is just about to be successful in pulling himself out of the bucket, the rest grab hold of him and pull him back down and in.
Some posters here, racially or economically motivated, just love to see somebody ELSE not make it too. Misery loves company.
The bottom line here in my humble opinion is, if police work is about “Protecting & Serving” they could have saved the taxpayers an enormous amount of money and gone to the kids house a year before they busted him. As many officers as the Sheriff could have rounded up at the same time could have converged on the kids house and asked to speak to his parents. They could have said, “Mr & Mrs. Rose, we are afraid for your son. We think he may be risking his future and getting involved in drugs. We all don’t want to see that happen and strongly suggest you have him drug tested. For his own protection. We will help you if you want us to. We have high hopes for your son and we want him to be able to go on and make you and all Amherst proud one day.“
But you see, some people REALLY get a kick out of seeing people ruined. Especially promising young people. The green eyed monster is alive and well. Misery does indeed love company.
I would have much rather seen it done the other way. It also would have kept him off the road for the year the authorities decided to just “watch” him and let him dig himself deeper. Would have made much more sense to me to do that. Been safer for us all too.
Has there been any discussion of entrapment? If what Rose says is true, he never would have sold drugs if the undercover officer had not baited him into it.
Okay… First of all, Rose was charged, tried and convicted as an ADULT, not as a juvenile. Wanted to clarify that for those of you who can never pass up an opportunity to knock the juvenile system.
Anyway, plenty of first time offenders get sentencing very similar to what Rose did. The only reason Rose is in the news at all is because he played ball for Amherst. I don’t know that the sentencing works the way that it is since plenty of first timers go on to be repeat offenders. However, why should we want to all but publicly stone this young man simply because he’s in the news about his drug sale? You gonna scream the same way for every other person who is convicted of selling pot or any other drug? There are plenty of those cases that never make the news.
Do I think what he did was right? No. He broke the law. He does deserve to be punished, but he doesn’t deserve to be continually bashed and treated the way he has been. He’s been tried, convicted and sentenced. Let it go. Hopefully, he’ll take this opportunity to get his life back on track and make something of himself. Maybe someone will convince him to do something positive like go talk to other high school kids about his experience and what his choice has cost him.
If you don’t like the justice system, then go talk to the proper people about it. Let the Peter Rose bashing go.
I agree with you smelly, what a waste of tax $, mark my words you will see this boys name in the news again for some kind of trouble
I dont think he should have to pull 5 yrs but the judge should have
sentanced him enough time to get the feel of prison and to deside thats not what he wants his life to be like. 3 or 6 months in real prison not county lock up
I really hope this kid appriciates the break the judge gave him and takes full advantage of it to get his life on the right track
I believe the judges should support the sheriffs dept and not let all there efferts be in vain
Tony Montoya?? As in “say hello to my little friend.“???
Kudos for Judge Gamble.Thank goodness we have a judicial system that realizes that sometimes young people make mistakes and that they shouldnt be crucified for their mistakes only punished.Maybe now the sheriffs Dept will realize that there wasteful tactics and ways of doing things are not going to be tolerated by an understanding Judge that is a known scholar of the law.And to all you idiots that wanted Rose more or less put away and the key thrown away HA! Now maybe Peter can get this situation behind him and become a productive member of society and have the mental fortitude to advance himself in this community.
Just look at the money that was spent here. What nonsense! The cost of cops in the school plus the cost of planting some young chippie of a cop in there for an entire year to first ingratiate herself, then rat out all she could lure in. The lawyers, the prosecutors, the judge, how much do you think the taxpayers paid to put on this fiasco? For what? To nail a few kids, being kids to the cross.
In case nobody has noticed there are much easier ways to accomplish the goal of preventing students and student athletes from smoking pot. You drug test them!
In a country where presidents, congressmen, captains of industry, scholars, celebrities, olympic champions and little old ladies smoke pot isn’t it about time we moved beyond the “Reefer Madness” stage of consciousness?
From all reports, this kid and the rest swept up in this year long taxpayer financed melodrama were not, by any stretch of the imagination, “Tony Montana”. The real tragedy is that this money could have been spent so much better.
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