MONROE DRUG DEALER GRANTED PAROLE

Prosecutor Calls For Change In Selection Of Early Release Cases

MONROEVILLE -- The state parole board voted Tuesday to cut the life
sentence given a Monroe County drug trafficker, leading the district
attorney who prosecuted the case to demand that the state stop calling
drug dealing a nonviolent offense.

Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles members granted early parole for
Maurice Antonio Scott, sentenced to life in prison in August 2000 for
unlawful distribution of a controlled substance as a habitual
offender. Cynthia Dillard, assistant executive director for the parole
board, said Scott was transferred to a federal prison, where he will
begin serving a mandatory sentence of 131 months -- nearly 11 years --
on drug charges. After that, Dillard said, he will be on supervised
release.

"He will not be released from custody," Dillard said. "He will just be
transferred as soon as the federal officers come pick him up." Scott,
33, was sentenced for the state charges on Aug. 18, 2000, and served
some 40 months of a life sentence before he was considered for parole.

State officials said inmates sentenced to life terms typically would
not be considered for parole before serving 10 years, though some have
served only seven years before being considered for parole. Alabama
law does, however, allow inmates to be paroled at any time after
sentencing with a unanimous vote of the parole board.

Dillard said earlier this month that Gov. Bob Riley's office had
ordered parole board members to consider scores of nonviolent inmates
for early release to relieve overcrowding in the state prison system.

Monroe County District Attorney Tommy Chapman said Tuesday he sent
letters protesting the early release because he could not personally
attend the hearing due to a conference in Birmingham. Members of the
county's drug task force were in Mobile serving in a federal court
drug case and were unable to attend. Chapman has personally attended
at least three such parole hearings so far this month opposing parole
for drug dealers. Scott is the first to be granted parole, even though
he will not be set free.

Chapman asked Riley in a letter dated Jan. 6 to revise guidelines that
classified drug dealers as nonviolent offenders. The letter
acknowledges the prison overcrowding in the state, but said Chapman
was "being overwhelmed with notices from the Parole Board on drug
dealers being considered for early parole."

Chapman cited one notice for a man sentenced on May 5, 2003, to 20
years for unlawful distribution who will be considered for early
parole Feb. 4.

"This is ridiculous," the letter states. "The result of these early
releases will poison law enforcement, the criminal justice system and
our community. ... If you had been to some of the crime scenes where I
have been, where drug-induced killers beat and tortured innocent
victims, you would agree with me" that drug dealers should not be
considered nonviolent offenders.

Chapman said the guidelines handed down by Riley's administration and
the Legislature to the parole board should be changed so drug dealers
are excluded from early release, and he called on other prosecutors,
law enforcement officers, elected officials and citizens to contact
the governor expressing opposition to early parole consideration for
drug dealers.

Jeff Emerson, director of communications for Riley's office, said the
governor responded to Chapman in a letter Thursday. In the letter,
Riley states that the early paroles are necessary due to overcrowding
and the current financial crisis in state government. He said his
advisers had begun dialogue with prosecutors to "bring about a better
understanding of the process" and refinements meant to reduce
overcrowding and keep the streets safe.