CRACK DEALER HOUSE ARREST SOUGHT

A Windsor doctor will be asked to help determine whether a drug
addict, convicted of trafficking crack cocaine, resisting arrest and
dangerous driving, might be a good candidate for house arrest rather than jail.

Superior Court Justice Richard Gates adjourned Wednesday the
sentencing of William Harman, 37, of Windsor until July 25 to give
the court time to call in the testimony of a physician.

The testimony will be to determine whether there is a reliable method
to monitor the convict's potential drug abuse if he is allowed to
serve his sentence in the community.

Harman's lawyer, Frank Miller, argued his client, convicted in
November 2005, would be an appropriate candidate for conditional sentencing.

He suggested Harman could be hooked up to an electronic tether and
serve his sentence at home with his mother. Doctors could monitor him
through urinalysis to ensure he had not returned to his use of crack.
In his submission to the judge, Miller argued Harman would stand a
better chance of drug rehabilitation if he remained in the community
and had access to regular and intense counselling.

But federal prosecutor Richard Pollock said that, although the
offender's rehabilitation is a concern, it's more important that
society be protected from the spread of the drug culture and noted
the court's main concern should be deterring other like-minded
criminals and the denunciation of drug trafficking.

"He comes to court saying 'I'd like the benefit of a conditional
sentence,'" said Pollock, in asking for a jail sentence of 18 months
to two years. "My submission is that the answer of the court should
be a categoric no."

Harman was arrested in October 2003, after crashing his motorcycle
while trying to escape police.