GOVERNOR ORDERS COPS TO BYPASS WINDSOR COUNTY PROSECUTORS ON DRUG CASES

Gov. Jim Douglas ordered three state law-enforcement agencies
Wednesday to bypass the Windsor County State's Attorney's Office on
large marijuana arrests and refer cases instead to top Vermont or
federal prosecutors.

The governor's directive closely follows county prosecutor Robert
Sand's decision to permit lawyer and family-court Judge Martha Davis,
61, to enter court diversion, a program that could lead to an
expunged criminal record, after game wardens discovered 2 1/2 pounds
of marijuana on her property.

"Every other state's attorney indicated they would have handled it
differently," the governor said in an interview Wednesday night.

Vermont can't have inconsistent drug enforcement from county to
county, Douglas said. If one prosecutor won't follow the law, police
officers must approach prosecutors who will, the governor said.

"We can't have a situation where possession of significant amounts of
marijuana result in prison time in 13 counties in Vermont, but in one
county there is no prison time. There has to be consistency," Douglas
said. "Every other prosecutor in the state takes our drug laws seriously."

Sand, who has spoken out in favor of legalizing some drugs under
certain circumstances, has said diversion was typical for first-time
marijuana offenders in Windsor County.

"Uniformity is an appropriate goal, but that doesn't necessarily mean
that a more tolerant, progressive and compassionate approach is
necessarily wrong," Sand said Wednesday night.

"We learned from the Alberto Gonzalez debacle the pitfalls of
meddling with the independence of prosecutors," Sand said. "Having
said that, I am going to worry about things over which I have
control. I'm not happy with the governor's directive, but it isn't
going to stop me from making the hard discretionary calls."

Sand said prosecutors often handle crimes in different ways, for
example, he said some counties give diversion for crimes of
interpersonal violence while others rarely do. He also said state
leaders need to engage in a discussion of "more intelligent drug policy."

"It's easy to be tough on crime," Sand said, "but a lot harder to ask
whether we are doing the right thing. I'd like to see more senior
officials in Vermont do that."

The directive, which the governor said is binding "on all the
agencies that work for me," affects the Vermont State Police and the
departments of Motor Vehicles and Fish and Wildlife. Douglas' order
requires law-enforcement agents to present cases involving
"significant amounts" of marijuana to the U.S. Attorney's Office or
the state Attorney General's Office.

The directive does not specify what weight meets the threshold,
Douglas said. He trusts police officers to determine that on their own.

Douglas said he consulted with U.S. Attorney Tom Anderson and Vermont
Attorney General William Sorrell, who had criticized Sand's handling
of the Davis case, before issuing his directive. The governor said it
wasn't his place to say whether his directive amounted to a
no-confidence vote in Sand.

Sorrell said prosecutors in his office will do their best in handling
new cases, but the question is how much additional work the directive
will create.

"We have no idea what this might mean in volume of referrals,"
Sorrell said, noting his staff is prosecuting a number of major,
time- consuming murder and sexual-assault cases. "We have statewide
criminal jurisdiction. It's not unusual for police agencies to be in
touch with us. We tend to respond when the police call us."