Darren Partington, a member of the influential Manchester electronic music act 808 State, has been convicted of possession of heroine and cocaine with the intent to distribute and will be jailed for 18 months, according to a report from Billboard.
The percussionist and keyboard player struggled with his own drug problems in recent years and fell into debt with a local drug dealer, to the tune of £1,000, or nearly $1,500. In order to pay off the debt he took to selling drugs for the dealer, citing threats that had been made against himself and his family. He was arrested in possession of 16 wraps of heroin and eight wraps of crack cocaine.
The judge in the case acknowledged the coercion involved but didn't sympathize enough to withhold punishment against the musician.
"Whatever the fear you had for your family you should have been man enough, at your age, to resist," the judge said, perhaps underplaying a tad the fear the rest of us have of organized crime. "Instead you chose to peddle drugs, which cause misery to people and a cycle of crime."
What the conviction means for the band as a whole remains to be seen. Although the group's website is still promoting the 2011 greatest hits release Blueprint, three live dates for 2015 are listed as well, including one gig at the end of the month as part of Winter Wooferland in the Netherlands. Presumably finding a suitable replacement shouldn't be too much of an issue, or at least 808 state hasn't released any statements to suggest otherwise.
