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Buzzby · 08-08-2005, 11:00 AM

Drug Cases Stir Controversy Over Mandatory Minimum Sentences
Adam Gorlick | Dateline Alabama | 08/07/2005

A colorful mural dedicated to W.E.B. Dubois, the civil rights leader born in this Berkshire County town, gives the only shot of character to the Taconic parking lot.

It's an otherwise unremarkable place for people to leave their cars and hurry into the back entrances of Main Street's bustling shops and restaurants.

And last summer, it's where 17-year-old Kyle Sawin was busted for selling marijuana to an undercover cop.

Ordinarily, his arrest wouldn't attract too much attention. But the spot is near more than a movie theater, stores and cafes.

A pre-school is housed in the basement of a church across Main Street, about 175 paces from the parking lot. An elementary and middle school campus is about a four-minute walk away, at the bottom of a hill down a side street.

That's close enough to the lot for Sawin - who has no prior criminal record - to be charged with selling drugs in a school zone, an offense that carries a mandatory minimum sentence of two years in prison.

And under the law that went on the books in the late 1980s, it doesn't matter that the schools were closed for the summer.

Although a jury deadlocked last month over whether to convict or acquit Sawin, Berkshire District Attorney David Capeless says he's sticking to his policy of fully prosecuting anyone charged with carrying out a drug deal within 1,000 feet of a school.

He's planning to try the case again, and refuses to drop the school zone charges.

His lack of leniency against a first-time offender charged with selling enough marijuana to roll about a half dozen joints has raised community concern and angered lawyers and advocacy groups.

They say Capeless is going too far in a case that could come to an easy end with a plea bargain sparing the time and cost of a trial and keep Sawin - who graduated from high school with honors this year and wants to go to college - out of jail.

Sawin's case, which is one in a group of 17 arrests made in last year's undercover operation to rid the Taconic lot of drug dealing and the first one that's gone to trial, has also renewed attention and opposition to mandatory minimum sentencing laws. All those arrested face the school zone charge.

"The notion that taking kids and putting them behind bars for two years in the name of justice is only going to increase the likelihood of ruining their lives," said Ethan Nadelman, executive director of the New York City-based Drug Policy Alliance, which has been following the Great Barrington cases. "You're derailing these kids for life. You're eliminating the possibility that they'll become productive adult citizens down the road."

Sawin - who took the stand in his own defense - declined through his attorney, Judith Knight, to be interviewed for this story.

Knight says her client had struggled with drug use during his teenage years, but eight months of counseling in 2003 and 2004 helped him stay off hard drugs.

She said he was hanging out in the Taconic parking lot last year with a new crowd of friends, and told the undercover policeman 15 times over several weeks that he had no marijuana to sell him.

When he did finally make a sale, it was for $50 in exchange for about three grams of marijuana. Enough to roll about two cigarettes, Knight said.

Sawin has admitted he sold the officer about equal amounts of the drug twice, but he's been charged with making three sales totaling roughly 9 grams.

And Knight is arguing that her client, now 18 and living with his parents in Otis while he works for a landscaping company, was entrapped.

"Entrapment is when an officer persists in putting the idea of a crime in the mind of someone who wasn't predisposed to commit the crime," she said. Sawin never had aspirations to be a drug dealer, and putting him in jail for two years amounts to an unjust punishment, she said.

Court records show that three voluntary drug Tests that Sawin took between last December and February of this year came back negative.

"He wanted to show the court that he was addressing his drug issue," Knight said.

And his mental health counselor wrote in February that Sawin "worked hard and succeeded in making necessary changes in his life."

"If the accused has taken the appropriate steps to correct their behavior, why wouldn't you apply that to the prosecution's case?" Knight asked.

The district attorney's answer is simple: It's a matter of policy.

"By not making exceptions, we're being even-handed and fair," said Capeless, who would not discuss the details of the Great Barrington cases. "We feel it's been effective in combating the drug problem as it relates to kids. If there's a violation in a school zone, we're going to prosecute."

But if someone charged with selling drugs in a school zone cooperates with a police investigation, Capeless says there's a chance for a deal.

"In exchange for cooperation, have we dropped school zone charges? Yes. That has happened," he said. Two teens arrested in the parking lot drug sweep testified against Sawin and are expected to testify against some other defendants, but they still face school zone charges.

Other Massachusetts prosecutors say they don't have hard-and-fast policies for prosecuting school zone cases.

"My feeling is that each case should be looked at on its own and stand on its own set of facts and circumstances," said Northwestern District Attorney Elizabeth Scheibel, who prosecutes cases in Hampshire and Franklin counties, bordering the Berkshires. "The defendant's record would be factored in, and if a deal goes down at midnight and there's no school in session and no kids around, that's different than a case where someone sells drugs inside a school."

Charging someone with selling drugs in a school zone is often a tactic used by prosecutors who want leverage over a defendant, many defense attorneys say. In exchange for a guilty plea to a lesser charge, a district attorney is likely to drop the school zone charge, they say.

While that can be a quick way of disposing of a case, the defense lawyers say mandatory minimum sentences are simply wrong because they take discretion away from judges and hand it to prosecutors.

"It forces us to go into a DA's office and we grovel and beg on behalf of our clients," said David Hoose, a Springfield lawyer. "I'm much more comfortable with judges stating in open court why they want to impose a certain sentence. I'm not comfortable when the DAs are the ones with that power."

Some Berkshire County residents are raising the same concerns.

Erik Bruun, who lives in Great Barrington and runs an investment fund based in the town, helped organize the Concerned Citizens for Appropriate Justice, a group that rallied around Sawin's case and six of the other 17 cases where the defendants are teenagers with no prior record who were arrested for selling small amounts of marijuana.

He says the group delivered a petition to Capeless in May with about 2,000 signatures of people opposed to the DA's tactics.

"There's no question that drug dealing was going on in the parking lot, and there's no question it was a problem that needed to be dealt with," Bruun said. "If these kids were selling drugs from their lockers, I have no problem with a prison sentence. But the punishment of two years in prison for a first-time offense of selling marijuana in a parking lot that isn't really near a school is excessive."

But it will be up to a jury to decide whether drugs were sold in a school zone. Capeless has said he wants to retry Sawin's case next month.

Dennis · 08-08-2005, 11:40 AM

Hopefully, this District Attorney's unjust anti-marijuana zealotry will be considered by The People when he comes up for re-election. I hope he gets de-elected for his views. It would be nice to see how he likes being persecuted and fired for his over zealous beliefs against marijuana users.

SkyTripper · 08-08-2005, 03:59 PM

A good example of "what message it sends to our youth."
2 YEARS in PRISON.......A place where he will surely be "rehabilitated" and learn his lesson for such a "heinous" crime.
These prosecutors HAVE way too much power.
But ya KNOW if it was THEIR OWN kid......this kind of sentence would not even be considered!
Another example of what this "War" does to people.
Sometimes it seems like many people continue to live in the Dark Ages and impose draconian sentences at will without ANY form of guilt in doing so.
Pure EVIL!
21st century WITCHUNT! Nothing more.....nothing less.
What would many people DO.....if they couldn't have a witchunt anymore?
Seems like human nature NEVER really changes and injustice and hatred thrives through the centuries.

BC.Buddy · 08-08-2005, 10:30 PM

I agree with SkyTripper, that's absolutely ridiculous. It's unfortunate that their idea of letting the population know something is illegal is that you'll be thrown away like a piece of trash for two years.

What ever happened to harm reduction, tolerance and education? Because I thought they were the new way of doing things and oppression, tyranny and unjust incarceration were what we did back in the day, before enlightened democratic society.

What good does two years in prison do someone? You know what, scrap that. Maybe someone that serves though two years will stop using, cultivating, traffiking, etc. marijuana altogether? It's sad when our governments are so easily able to throw us away like this. For something so trivial and actually unconstitutional. It's not what government is for. It's unfortunate.

08-08-2005, 11:00 AM	#1
Buzzby Buddhist Curmudgeon Join Date: Aug 2004 Posts: 14,168 Grams: 42,618.14 Groans: 33 Groaned at 42 Times in 35 Posts Thanks: 486 Thanked 3,513 Times in 1,780 Posts Stock Portfolio Total Value: 0.000 Gain/Loss: 0.000%	AL: Drug Cases Stir Controversy Over Mandatory Minimum Sentences Drug Cases Stir Controversy Over Mandatory Minimum Sentences Adam Gorlick \| Dateline Alabama \| 08/07/2005 A colorful mural dedicated to W.E.B. Dubois, the civil rights leader born in this Berkshire County town, gives the only shot of character to the Taconic parking lot. It's an otherwise unremarkable place for people to leave their cars and hurry into the back entrances of Main Street's bustling shops and restaurants. And last summer, it's where 17-year-old Kyle Sawin was busted for selling marijuana to an undercover cop. Ordinarily, his arrest wouldn't attract too much attention. But the spot is near more than a movie theater, stores and cafes. A pre-school is housed in the basement of a church across Main Street, about 175 paces from the parking lot. An elementary and middle school campus is about a four-minute walk away, at the bottom of a hill down a side street. That's close enough to the lot for Sawin - who has no prior criminal record - to be charged with selling drugs in a school zone, an offense that carries a mandatory minimum sentence of two years in prison. And under the law that went on the books in the late 1980s, it doesn't matter that the schools were closed for the summer. Although a jury deadlocked last month over whether to convict or acquit Sawin, Berkshire District Attorney David Capeless says he's sticking to his policy of fully prosecuting anyone charged with carrying out a drug deal within 1,000 feet of a school. He's planning to try the case again, and refuses to drop the school zone charges. His lack of leniency against a first-time offender charged with selling enough marijuana to roll about a half dozen joints has raised community concern and angered lawyers and advocacy groups. They say Capeless is going too far in a case that could come to an easy end with a plea bargain sparing the time and cost of a trial and keep Sawin - who graduated from high school with honors this year and wants to go to college - out of jail. Sawin's case, which is one in a group of 17 arrests made in last year's undercover operation to rid the Taconic lot of drug dealing and the first one that's gone to trial, has also renewed attention and opposition to mandatory minimum sentencing laws. All those arrested face the school zone charge. "The notion that taking kids and putting them behind bars for two years in the name of justice is only going to increase the likelihood of ruining their lives," said Ethan Nadelman, executive director of the New York City-based Drug Policy Alliance, which has been following the Great Barrington cases. "You're derailing these kids for life. You're eliminating the possibility that they'll become productive adult citizens down the road." Sawin - who took the stand in his own defense - declined through his attorney, Judith Knight, to be interviewed for this story. Knight says her client had struggled with drug use during his teenage years, but eight months of counseling in 2003 and 2004 helped him stay off hard drugs. She said he was hanging out in the Taconic parking lot last year with a new crowd of friends, and told the undercover policeman 15 times over several weeks that he had no marijuana to sell him. When he did finally make a sale, it was for $50 in exchange for about three grams of marijuana. Enough to roll about two cigarettes, Knight said. Sawin has admitted he sold the officer about equal amounts of the drug twice, but he's been charged with making three sales totaling roughly 9 grams. And Knight is arguing that her client, now 18 and living with his parents in Otis while he works for a landscaping company, was entrapped. "Entrapment is when an officer persists in putting the idea of a crime in the mind of someone who wasn't predisposed to commit the crime," she said. Sawin never had aspirations to be a drug dealer, and putting him in jail for two years amounts to an unjust punishment, she said. Court records show that three voluntary drug Tests that Sawin took between last December and February of this year came back negative. "He wanted to show the court that he was addressing his drug issue," Knight said. And his mental health counselor wrote in February that Sawin "worked hard and succeeded in making necessary changes in his life." "If the accused has taken the appropriate steps to correct their behavior, why wouldn't you apply that to the prosecution's case?" Knight asked. The district attorney's answer is simple: It's a matter of policy. "By not making exceptions, we're being even-handed and fair," said Capeless, who would not discuss the details of the Great Barrington cases. "We feel it's been effective in combating the drug problem as it relates to kids. If there's a violation in a school zone, we're going to prosecute." But if someone charged with selling drugs in a school zone cooperates with a police investigation, Capeless says there's a chance for a deal. "In exchange for cooperation, have we dropped school zone charges? Yes. That has happened," he said. Two teens arrested in the parking lot drug sweep testified against Sawin and are expected to testify against some other defendants, but they still face school zone charges. Other Massachusetts prosecutors say they don't have hard-and-fast policies for prosecuting school zone cases. "My feeling is that each case should be looked at on its own and stand on its own set of facts and circumstances," said Northwestern District Attorney Elizabeth Scheibel, who prosecutes cases in Hampshire and Franklin counties, bordering the Berkshires. "The defendant's record would be factored in, and if a deal goes down at midnight and there's no school in session and no kids around, that's different than a case where someone sells drugs inside a school." Charging someone with selling drugs in a school zone is often a tactic used by prosecutors who want leverage over a defendant, many defense attorneys say. In exchange for a guilty plea to a lesser charge, a district attorney is likely to drop the school zone charge, they say. While that can be a quick way of disposing of a case, the defense lawyers say mandatory minimum sentences are simply wrong because they take discretion away from judges and hand it to prosecutors. "It forces us to go into a DA's office and we grovel and beg on behalf of our clients," said David Hoose, a Springfield lawyer. "I'm much more comfortable with judges stating in open court why they want to impose a certain sentence. I'm not comfortable when the DAs are the ones with that power." Some Berkshire County residents are raising the same concerns. Erik Bruun, who lives in Great Barrington and runs an investment fund based in the town, helped organize the Concerned Citizens for Appropriate Justice, a group that rallied around Sawin's case and six of the other 17 cases where the defendants are teenagers with no prior record who were arrested for selling small amounts of marijuana. He says the group delivered a petition to Capeless in May with about 2,000 signatures of people opposed to the DA's tactics. "There's no question that drug dealing was going on in the parking lot, and there's no question it was a problem that needed to be dealt with," Bruun said. "If these kids were selling drugs from their lockers, I have no problem with a prison sentence. But the punishment of two years in prison for a first-time offense of selling marijuana in a parking lot that isn't really near a school is excessive." But it will be up to a jury to decide whether drugs were sold in a school zone. Capeless has said he wants to retry Sawin's case next month. __________________ McCain voted with Bush 90% of the time. Do we really want four more years of the same old shit? ~ Buzzby, 08/31/2008 Theocracy Watch

08-08-2005, 03:59 PM	#3
SkyTripper Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 327 Grams: 1,760.95 Groans: 0 Groaned at 0 Times in 0 Posts Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Stock Portfolio Total Value: 0.000 Gain/Loss: 0.000%	A good example of "what message it sends to our youth." 2 YEARS in PRISON.......A place where he will surely be "rehabilitated" and learn his lesson for such a "heinous" crime. These prosecutors HAVE way too much power. But ya KNOW if it was THEIR OWN kid......this kind of sentence would not even be considered! Another example of what this "War" does to people. Sometimes it seems like many people continue to live in the Dark Ages and impose draconian sentences at will without ANY form of guilt in doing so. Pure EVIL! 21st century WITCHUNT! Nothing more.....nothing less. What would many people DO.....if they couldn't have a witchunt anymore? Seems like human nature NEVER really changes and injustice and hatred thrives through the centuries. __________________ SkyTripper

08-08-2005, 10:30 PM	#4
BC.Buddy Sr. Member Join Date: Jun 2004 Posts: 657 Grams: 2,676.25 Groans: 0 Groaned at 0 Times in 0 Posts Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Stock Portfolio Total Value: 0.000 Gain/Loss: 0.000%	Yeah, totally I agree with SkyTripper, that's absolutely ridiculous. It's unfortunate that their idea of letting the population know something is illegal is that you'll be thrown away like a piece of trash for two years. What ever happened to harm reduction, tolerance and education? Because I thought they were the new way of doing things and oppression, tyranny and unjust incarceration were what we did back in the day, before enlightened democratic society. What good does two years in prison do someone? You know what, scrap that. Maybe someone that serves though two years will stop using, cultivating, traffiking, etc. marijuana altogether? It's sad when our governments are so easily able to throw us away like this. For something so trivial and actually unconstitutional. It's not what government is for. It's unfortunate. __________________ BC Marijuana Party "Overgrow The Government" \| Cannabis Culture \| Pot TV \| - Proud Cannabis User -

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08-08-2005, 11:40 AM	#2
Dennis Jr. Member Join Date: Jan 2004 Posts: 194 Grams: 1,308.70 Groans: 0 Groaned at 0 Times in 0 Posts Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Stock Portfolio Total Value: 0.000 Gain/Loss: 0.000%	Hopefully, this District Attorney's unjust anti-marijuana zealotry will be considered by The People when he comes up for re-election. I hope he gets de-elected for his views. It would be nice to see how he likes being persecuted and fired for his over zealous beliefs against marijuana users.

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