Crack-Cocaine Offenses

1,800 IN PA. COULD EXIT JAIL EARLY

Freeing 28 In District That Includes Luzerne County Comes With New
Fed Guidelines.

SCRANTON - Federal officials estimate up to 1,800 people convicted of
federal drug offenses in Pennsylvania could be eligible for early
release due to recently enacted sentencing guidelines that reduced
the penalty for crack cocaine offenses.

Federal Public Defender Jim Wade said judges have already signed
about 28 orders granting early release to inmates sentenced in the
U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, which
covers 33 counties in northeastern and central Pennsylvania, including Luzerne.

Those defendants, most of whom are expected to be released this week,
are among roughly 600 Middle District inmates Wade's office has
identified who might be eligible for early release based on
modifications to sentencing guidelines enacted last year by the U.S.
Sentencing Commission.

Officials in the eastern district, which covers Philadelphia and
surrounding areas, estimate 700 defendants might be eligible, while
authorities in the Western district, which encompasses the Pittsburgh
area, have identified roughly 500 cases.

Wade and acting U.S. Attorney Martin Carlson stressed many of the
defendants identified as being technically eligible for early release
ultimately will not qualify based on other issues with their cases.

For instance, defendants classified as career offenders - three or
more convictions for drugs or violent offenses - are not eligible,
although there might be some cases that are exceptions to that rule.

In addition, authorities are closely reviewing prior criminal records
and an inmate's behavioral history while incarcerated to assess if
the defendant might pose a danger to the public. If so, they will not
be released.

"If they technically qualify for a reduction that does not mean it's
automatic," Carlson said. "In the first round of cases we've already
seen judges deny some on public safety grounds."

The modifications to sentencing guidelines grew out of long-standing
concerns that sentences imposed for crack cocaine offenses were
disproportionately high compared to sentences for powder cocaine
offenses, Wade said.

The disparity resulted from a law passed by Congress in 1986 that set
mandatory minimum sentences based on the amount of drugs. The law
created a 100-to-1 ratio for crack versus powder cocaine, meaning a
person caught with 5 grams of crack faced the same penalty as someone
who had 500 grams of powder cocaine.

The law had been harshly criticized by members of the judiciary and
civil rights advocates, in part because it impacted a
disproportionate number of African-Americans, Wade said.

Wade said the sentencing commission deserves credit for taking on the
politically charged issue.

"Drugs are a very big problem and the public has a right to call for
that to be addressed. But if you look at individual cases and saw the
kind of time people got for crack cocaine you would reach the same
conclusion the sentencing commission did," Wade said. "The sentences
for crack cocaine cannot be justified under any standard."

Wade said the commission had pressed Congress for years to alter the
law, but legislators never acted. In December, the commission took
matters into its own hands and set new standards for anyone sentenced
on or after Nov. 1, 2007.

The commission also made the modifications retroactive. That
provision, enacted on March 3, put into motion court action that led
to the first wave of eligible defendants being released beginning this week.

The action was long overdue, said Melinda Ghilardi, first assistant
public defender for the middle district.

"Study after study and report after report said the same thing over
and over again, that the 100-to-1 ratio is completely and totally
unjustified," Ghilardi said. "I'm happy to see that after 20 years
something is being done."

Ghilardi is one of nine attorneys Wade appointed within the middle
district to review all drug cases to determine if a defendant might
be eligible for a sentence reduction.

It's a massive undertaking, Ghilardi said, but so far it has gone
smoothly thanks to the cooperation of the U.S. Attorneys office and
federal probation department.

"Everyone from the government to the probation office to the courts
wants to make sure everyone who is entitled to the adjustment gets
it. I'm really impressed how orderly the process has been," Ghilardi said.

Attorneys are reviewing cases based on the projected release date
prior to the sentence reduction. Those with the earliest release
dates are being reviewed first to ensure they are given consideration
before they complete their sentence. Otherwise the efforts would be moot.

The exact impact on sentences is dependent upon multiple factors,
including the defendant's prior record, Ghilardi said.

For instance, a person with no prior record who was originally
sentenced to 51 to 63 months would see their sentence reduced to 41
to 51 months. A person with no priors who was sentenced to 21 to 27
months would see their sentence reduced to 15 to 21 months, she said.

Wade said most of the approximately 28 defendants granted early
release in the first wave had already served most of their sentence,
so they received relatively little benefit. The reductions ranged
from a low one month for one prisoner, to a high of 17 months for another.

Seven of the defendants being released this week are returning to
communities within the middle district, he said. The others are
either going to the eastern or western districts, or are being turned
over to state custody or immigration officials.