BELL SENTENCED TO PRISON FOR ROLE IN GOOD HOPE MELEE

NEW MADRID -- Twenty-two years in prison likely await Dmitri Bell, who was sentenced Tuesday for his role in a confrontation with Cape Girardeau police last June.

Bell, 19, was given a seven-year sentence by Judge Fred Copeland for interferring with arrests, said Ian Sutherland, assistant prosecutor for Cape Girardeau County.

Bell is likely to get three addtional five year sentences, to run consecutively, for probation violations, which will be given in Cape Girardeau County court, Sutherland said.

"The sentences are pending, but I'm certain he'll get them," Sutherland said.

Bell is one of eight men charged in an incident that occured June 11, when gravel and parts of bricks and concrete blocks were thrown at police, who were seeking to arrest Greg and Kenneth Campbell.

Six police officers received injuries during the confrontation.

Normally, the class D felony of interferring with arrest is punished by no more than 5 years imprisonment. But considering Bell's prior criminal history, he could have been sentenced to a maximum of 10 years on the charge, Sutherland said.

Aubrey Carter had been sentenced in New Madrid's court to five years in prison last month for interferring with an arrest.