SWIFT PAROLE IN DRUG CASE WORRIES DA

Man Given 21 Years in January to Have Mid-April Hearing

Though he was considered small in a game of giants, former professional
football player Archie Turner was noted for his speed and toughness on the
gridiron.

Now Madison County prosecutors are concerned because it seems that a
21-year prison sentence a Madison County judge handed Turner in January for
drug dealing hasn't slowed him down. The Alabama Board of Pardons and
Paroles is scheduled to consider Turner for early release as a nonviolent
offender on April 15.

Prosecutors say that's some kind of record since Turner hasn't even been
transferred to the Alabama Department of Corrections yet, but is already
eligible for a parole hearing.

"He may only serve 39 days of his sentence," Assistant District Attorney
Donald N. Rizzardi said.

Usually prisoners serve roughly a third of their sentence under the parole
board's rules, but Gov. Bob Riley and the Legislature have asked the parole
board to help ease prison overcrowding in Alabama.

Early parole hearings for prisoners who are considered nonviolent offenders
has become routine, said Cynthia Dillard, assistant executive director of
the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles.

"Every inmate in the Alabama prison system who is serving a sentence on a
nonviolent offense will have a parole hearing/consideration this year," she
said. "That is part of the governor's plan to reduce prison overcrowding."

The governor has asked the state's two parole boards to hold hearings four
days a week, Dillard said.

"We've been told to keep the dockets full," she said.

In December, a jury convicted Turner, 28, of Stone Mountain, Ga., on a
charge of distributing a controlled substance in 2000. He is in the
Huntsville-Madison County Jail awaiting transfer to the Alabama Department
of Corrections.

In January, Circuit Judge Laura W. Hamilton sentenced Turner to 11 years on
the drug conviction, and imposed two five-year enhancements, for a total of
21 years.

Rizzardi said, according to the law, Turner should serve every day of the
10-years of enhancements before he starts serving the term on the drug
conviction.

Distribution of a controlled substance is a class B felony under Alabama
law, with a possible sentence of up to 20 years in prison. The jury also
found Turner guilty of selling cocaine within three miles of schools and a
public housing development. The penalty is a mandatory five-year prison
term on each count.

The Alabama Department of Corrections is currently housing 27,000 inmates
in a system equipped for 12,000, Dillard said. The state is going to have
to do something to correct the problem because of a federal judge's order
to reduce overcrowding, she said. "We either let the feds come in and
release people without any consideration of who they are, or we can
consider those we don't think pose a great danger to public safety," she said.

The board has considered 7,564 inmates for early release since April 6,
2003, Dillard said. It has released 3,466 inmates who were considered
nonviolent offenders, she said. A second parole board was appointed in
October and started holding hearings in December, she said. It's unlikely
that inmates who haven't served any of their sentences will get early
release, Dillard said.

"At least, I haven't seen it happen,' she said.

Turner's lawyer, Charles H. Pullen of Huntsville, has notified the Alabama
Court of Criminal Appeals that he plans to appeal the conviction. Pullen
has also filed a petition in Madison County Circuit Court requesting a new
trial. Hamilton has not set a date to consider the petition for a new
trial. Turner played football at Alabama A&M University from 1997-99. In
2001, he played indoor football professionally with the Baton Rouge Blaze.
During the 2002 season, he played with the Ottawa Renegades of the Canadian
Football League. The Renegades released Turner in June.