Brian Tribble: The Len Bias Case, Trial, and Cocaine Conspiracy

Brian Tribble is the friend who was with University of Maryland basketball star Len Bias when Bias suffered a fatal cocaine overdose on June 19, 1986, and the Brian Tribble Len Bias case became one of the most closely watched drug prosecutions of the decade. Tribble placed the 911 call from the dorm room, was later indicted as the person who supplied the cocaine, and was acquitted by a Prince George’s County jury in June 1987. Three years after that acquittal, he pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiring to distribute cocaine and was sentenced to just over 10 years in prison.

What Happened the Night Len Bias Died

Bias had been drafted second overall by the Boston Celtics on June 17, 1986, and returned to campus to celebrate. In the early morning of June 19, he was in suite 1103 of Washington Hall with Tribble and Maryland teammates Terry Long and David Gregg. The group drank and used cocaine through the night.¹

Around 6:00 a.m., Bias snorted a line, stood up, and went into a seizure. Long put a pair of scissors in his mouth to keep him from biting his tongue. Gregg held his legs. Tribble called his mother, who told him to dial 911, and the call came in at roughly 6:31 a.m. On the recording, Tribble can be heard saying, “This is Len Bias — you’ve got to bring him back to life. There’s no way he can die.”² Bias was pronounced dead at Leland Memorial Hospital at 8:51 a.m.¹

Maryland Chief Medical Examiner Dr. John Smialek ruled the cause of death cocaine intoxication. The cocaine was described as “unusually pure” and of “dealer-level quality,” and it disrupted the electrical activity of Bias’s heart. Toxicology showed a blood cocaine level of 6.5 milligrams per liter, with no alcohol or other drugs, and no signs of chronic use.³⁴

The Charges Against Tribble

Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Arthur A. Marshall Jr. opened a grand jury investigation within days. Investigators had not been able to question anyone in the room in the immediate aftermath because the men had cleaned up before paramedics arrived.¹ Marshall said publicly that the evidence “points toward Mr. Tribble being the person who brought cocaine into the room.”⁵

Long and Gregg were initially indicted on cocaine possession and obstruction charges. Both were dropped in October 1986 in exchange for their cooperation. Tribble was charged with distributing cocaine, possession with intent to distribute, possession of cocaine, possession of PCP, and conspiracy to distribute. Prosecutors said he faced more than 40 years if convicted on all counts, though outside legal observers estimated a first-time drug offender would likely get six months to three years under Maryland guidelines. Tribble pleaded not guilty.⁶

The 1987 Trial and Acquittal

The trial took place in Prince George’s County Circuit Court more than a year after Bias’s death, with Judge James Rea presiding. Robert Bonsib and Jeffrey L. Harding prosecuted. Thomas C. Morrow defended.⁷

Terry Long testified that Bias had introduced him to cocaine nearly two years earlier and described Bias as a “courtesy middleman” in Tribble’s cocaine business.² Long and Gregg told prosecutors they saw a plastic cup half-full of cocaine and observed Tribble put remaining cocaine in his pocket after Bias collapsed. Neither could say definitively who brought the drugs into the room.⁶

The prosecution also called former Maryland coach Lefty Driesell, who testified that Gregg and Long had told him Tribble provided the drugs. Judge Rea ordered the jury to disregard the testimony as hearsay and criticized the state’s attorney’s office for what he called “prosecutorial abuse.”⁸ Morrow moved for a mistrial, arguing prosecutors had failed to disclose the full nature of Driesell’s expected testimony. The judge denied the motion.⁷

Morrow called Tribble a “whipping boy” and a “scapegoat,” described the prosecution as a “Salem witch hunt,” and told the jury the state’s case was “the worst kind of hearsay, speculation, rumor and innuendo.” He said the prosecution’s real accomplishment had been destroying Bias’s reputation: “If Len Bias were here today, Len Bias would be ashamed of the state of Maryland.”⁹ The defense called just three witnesses. Tribble did not testify.⁷

On June 3, 1987, after more than six hours of deliberation, the jury acquitted Tribble on all charges.¹⁰ Jury foreman Douglas R. Wilson said the question of who supplied the cocaine “was not determined” and that the case was “not worthy of a guilty verdict.” Jurors found key state witness Terrence Anthony Moore not credible and concluded that Long and Gregg’s testimony was not properly corroborated.⁹ Marshall, who had been Prince George’s State’s Attorney for 24 years, was defeated for reelection amid criticism of his handling of the case.¹¹

The 1990 Federal Cocaine Conspiracy Case

The acquittal did not close Tribble’s story. Federal prosecutors later identified him as a wholesaler in a Washington-area drug organization that trafficked hundreds of kilograms of cocaine in D.C. and Prince George’s County over six to seven years, sourcing from Florida, New York, and California.¹²¹³

Tribble bought three-kilogram shipments for about $20,000 and resold them for $25,000. At his peak he moved as much as 22 pounds a month, and over an 18-month stretch he acknowledged distributing more than 110 pounds of cocaine, generating “hundreds of thousands of dollars.”¹⁴ His notoriety from the Bias case actually helped him in the trade. Other dealers considered him “safe” and unlikely to cooperate with law enforcement, which let him buy in bulk on credit.¹⁵

DEA agents arrested a Bahamian courier at Dulles International Airport carrying four kilograms of cocaine meant for Tribble. Agents then ran a sting at a New Carrollton hotel parking lot, where a cooperating supplier arranged to sell Tribble 8.8 pounds of cocaine for roughly $100,000. The deal was videotaped. Tribble briefly fled by car and on foot before turning himself in on August 6, 1990.¹⁵

On October 18, 1990, in U.S. District Court in Baltimore, Tribble pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute cocaine.¹⁴ Between the plea and sentencing he cooperated extensively, providing information that led to more than 20 convictions. Assistant U.S. Attorney E. Thomas Roberts said Tribble “saved the government an enormous amount of time and energy.”¹²

On October 15, 1993, U.S. District Judge William M. Nickerson sentenced Tribble to 10 years and one month in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release. He forfeited his home in Forestville, Maryland, three cars, and other property.¹³ He had faced up to 27 years given the quantities involved, and the reduced term reflected the government’s recommendation based on his cooperation. “I recognize I caused my family pain and my friends and myself,” Tribble told the court.¹⁶

Nickerson said the sentence “troubled” him because it was more lenient than sentences given to co-defendants who had played smaller roles. “It has given me considerable concern because of my perception of Mr. Tribble as more of a leader than a follower,” he said. Federal sentencing guidelines kept him from factoring in information about Tribble’s leadership role that had emerged after the plea deal was signed.¹²

How Bias’s Death Reshaped Federal Drug Law

Bias died days before Congress’s summer recess. House Speaker Tip O’Neill, who represented Boston, used the alarm to push a sweeping anti-drug bill.¹⁷ The Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 was signed by President Reagan four months after the overdose. Its mandatory-minimum provisions were added in the final four days before adjournment, without hearings.¹⁸

The law reintroduced mandatory minimums for drug crimes and created a 100-to-1 sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine: 5 grams of crack triggered a five-year mandatory minimum, while it took 500 grams of powder for the same sentence. It also mandated life imprisonment for anyone whose drug dealing resulted in a death, a provision reportedly inspired by whoever supplied Bias.¹⁹¹⁷ The Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 reduced the ratio to 18-to-1, and the First Step Act of 2018 made that reduction retroactive for people sentenced before August 3, 2010.²⁰

One further point of context. Bias’s toxicology showed only powder cocaine, not crack, though the law his death helped drive punished the two substances at wildly different levels.⁴

1
ESPN. The Last Days of Len Bias
2
UPI Archives. Personality Spotlights: Len Bias and Brian Tribble
3
Los Angeles Times. Cocaine Intoxication Killed Bias
4
Time. How Cocaine Killed Leonard Bias
5
New York Times. Drug Charges Seen in Death of Bias
6
Washington Post. Teammates Tell Authorities of Using Cocaine With Bias
7
UPI Archives. Defense Rests Case in Tribble Trial
8
Los Angeles Times. Tribble Found Not Guilty in Bias Case
9
Washington Post. Tribble Acquitted of Charges
10
New York Times. Tribble Is Cleared in Len Bias Case
11
Washington Post. Alex William and the Crossover Strategy
12
Baltimore Sun. Tribble Gets 10 Years on Drug Conviction
13
Baltimore Sun. Tribble Pleads Guilty in Cocaine Sale
14
Washington Post. Tribble Pleads Guilty to Drug Conspiracy
15
Los Angeles Times. A Footnote to Tragedy
16
Washington Post. Cocaine Dealer Sentenced to 10 Years
17
The Guardian. Len Bias and the War on Drugs
18
NPR. Bias Death Prompted Shoddy Legislation
19
NBC News. 30 Years After Len Bias Death
20
SCOTUSblog. Justices Voice Skepticism About Retroactive Sentencing Reductions