NEW RULING ON COCAINE POSSESSION

The State Court Of Appeals Says It's A Misdemeanor Often Prosecuted As A
Felony. A Host Of Cases Are At Stake

No, really: Cocaine possession is only a misdemeanor, a state appeals court
ruled Tuesday for the second time in two weeks. In its second 3-0 ruling on
the issue, the state Court of Appeals again agreed with criminal defendants
that conflicting state statutes on cocaine must be resolved in their favor.

So, under a confusing quirk of state law, even though possessing cocaine
can bring a felony sentence, the crime itself is only a misdemeanor, the
court said.

And that means that prosecutors can't use people's convictions for cocaine
possession to punish them further as habitual felons, which happened to
Corey Tyrone Sneed of Wilmington last year. The court wiped out Sneed's
July 2002 convictions of habitual felon and possession of a firearm by a
felon, and his sentence of about eight to 11 years in prison.

The state Supreme Court might have something to say about that, even though
prosecutors have no automatic right to appeal the ruling. Just last week,
the Supreme Court froze an identical appeals court ruling in a similar case
while it decides whether to clear up the issue.

Lawyers for the state had said that ruling would upset tens of thousands of
sentences for people convicted of having cocaine. The crime, they said, is
a felony.

The recurring problem, the appeals court said Tuesday, is that although a
24-year-old law says people caught with cocaine can get felony sentences of
up to five years in prison, an older law says "possession of cocaine is a
misdemeanor."

"Since the General Assembly made this law, it is not within the province of
this Court to employ legal gymnastics to read the clear language
differently than what it states," said the ruling by judges James Wynn,
Patricia Timmons-Goodson and Rick Elmore.

Sneed was convicted of cocaine-possession in 1990, 1992 and 1995, according
to the ruling. In March 2002, he was stopped for making an illegal U-turn.
It turned out he had an illegal license plate on his car. He also had a
handgun under the seat, which he told the police officer. He said he used
it to protect his three businesses, including a nightclub.

A police dispatcher told the cop that Sneed was a felon, based on the
cocaine convictions. So Sneed was charged with and convicted of having the
gun illegally and being a habitual felon. He appealed, and won -- for now,
at least.