WOMAN PARDONED BY CLINTON SUPPORTS CHANGE IN DRUG LAWS

Federal sentencing laws are sending too many first-time drug offenders to
prison for far too long, a Virginia woman who once faced a 241/2-year term
said Thursday.

Kemba Smith's sentence for playing a minor role in a drug-trafficking case
was commuted in December by President Clinton. Today, she's a college
student and an outspoken critic of stern conspiracy and mandatory minimum
sentencing laws.

"I made some poor choices, but none of those choices warranted me being
sent away for 241/2 years," Smith told students and local supporters during
a panel discussion at the Gem Theater.

U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters of California, who also appeared on the panel, said
she soon would introduce legislation in Congress to address first-time
offenders like Smith. Her proposal would give federal judges more
discretion in sentencing such defendants and curb the prosecution in
federal court of low-level participants in drug schemes.

"We must organize to get the politicians and elected officials to do the
right thing," said Waters, a Democrat. "Let's talk about education,
treatment and rehabilitation, not how to turn over our children to the
criminal justice system."

Federal guidelines limit the ability of federal judges to sentence
defendants below a narrowly prescribed range. And for defendants convicted
of conspiring to sell as little as 5 grams of crack cocaine, Congress has
dictated mandatory 10-year sentences without exception.

Such laws were enacted in the 1980s for drug kingpins. Federal prosecutors
have defended use of the laws, saying the prospect of lengthy prison terms
encourages drug dealers to cooperate and cut their sentences.

Critics, however, have said the laws have done little but build prisons
that have become filled with low-level, nonviolent drug offenders serving
unnecessarily long sentences.

Smith was sentenced in 1995 after pleading guilty to charges of cocaine
conspiracy, money laundering and lying to federal authorities about a drug
ring operated by her boyfriend. At her sentencing, prosecutors conceded
that she did not sell powdered cocaine or crack, but merely knew of her
boyfriend's drug activities and helped the conspiracy.

Her long sentence resulted after she was held responsible for the entire
amount of cocaine sold by her boyfriend's operation, more than 560 pounds.