LET SENTENCE STAND DESPITE GUIDELINES

U.S. District Court Judge Alan H. Nevas should be congratulated for making
fairness and justice his sole concerns in sentencing a 21-year- old city
man who supervised drug dealers at the P.T. Barnum Housing project in
Bridgeport.

Under federal sentencing guidelines, Nevas could have imposed a life
sentence on convicted drug lieutenant John Foster.

However, the judge chose to dispense with the guidelines because he saw
many extenuating circumstances in this particular case.

As Nevas pointed out, the offender is the son of a mother who abused drugs
and a father who was mentally ill and abandoned his son. The young man
sought support on the streets because he'd had little or no chance to learn
a law-abiding lifestyle.

What's more, Foster's very existence had been hidden from aunts and uncles
who could have helped him and provided him with better role models. If
those educated relatives had had a hand in rearing the young man, Nevas
said, he probably wouldn't be standing here today. He'd probably be
standing somewhere receiving a diploma.

Most important, the judge pointed out that Foster had never been involved
in any violence.

Make no mistake: What this young man did is still wrong. He had to be taken
off the streets. That is what Nevas did by sentencing Foster to 27 years
behind bars not exactly a slap on the wrist.

However, the jurist's decision wisely leaves room for Foster to
rehabilitate himself and start life anew one day. Nevas refused to take all
of Foster's opportunities away with a single, crushing blow, despite the
federal guidelines.

Of course, the U.S. attorney's office might now decide to appeal the
sentence on the grounds that the guidelines weren't followed, but we hope
that doesn't happen.

The government must consider the young man's incredibly difficult childhood
and his potential for rehabilitation and let the current sentence stand.