D.A. PLANS DRUG COURT FOR 2003

BALLSTON SPA -- Nonviolent drug addicts will be able to avoid jail time by
going through a year of closely supervised treatment starting early next year.

Saratoga County District Attorney James A. Murphy III will outline plans
for a county drug court for supervisors today.

The state Office of Court Administration will pay for an administrator for
the program, he said. Judges, prosecutors and others will attend a training
session in Buffalo this August.

Drug court offenders will be tested weekly. If they're found to be using
drugs, they'll be jailed.

"The weekly testing is important," Murphy said. "It is much more intensive
than any kind of probation."

City Court Judge Douglas Mills said judges take a much more active role
with participants in a drug court.

"The judge is after them almost weekly to make sure they keep up treatment,
have jobs and work on their other social problems," Mills said.

Murphy said the program will start in County Court, where felony cases are
heard, and in Family Court where juvenile delinquency cases are heard.

Mills said he'll handle misdemeanor drug court cases from around the county
when the program expands later next year.

Mills estimated the program will have about 30 offenders at first. He said
there could be as many as 100 offenders in the county with drug court
potential.

Murphy said his office will act as gatekeeper.

"It will not be open to drug dealers," Murphy said Thursday. "That includes
drug addicts who sell drugs to support their habit."

It will be open to people charged with felony possession but not possession
with intent to distribute. The difference between the two hinges on the
observations of police officers and whether the drugs are separated into
small packages for sale.

The program could be open to nonviolent offenders, such as forgers, if it
can be determined that their habit led to the crime, Murphy said.

"It will be a plea-driven system," he said.

That means an offender must plead guilty in order to be eligible for the
yearlong program. Murphy doesn't want to have to retain his evidence and
witnesses for up to a year.

Mills has been advocating a drug court for a few years. He said the Judith
Kaye, the state's chief judge, wants them in place by the end of 2003.
Albany, Schenectady, Rensselaer, Washington and Fulton counties already
have them, he said.

Murphy said he took his time designing Saratoga County's program and was
careful to learn from neighboring countys' mistakes. As an example, he said
Saratoga County's program will be run by the Probation Department.

"It was too much for judges and the Probation Department already has the
expertise," Murphy said.

Felony offenders will have to serve five years of probation after their
year of drug treatment.