FRUSTRATION DROVE PUSH FOR LAW;

New Rule Boosts Penalties For Dealers Whose Drugs Kill, Injure

TROPHY CLUB -- After months of investigating the death of Tara Childers, a
17-year-old who overdosed on heroin in 2001, Trophy Club police Sgt. Tony
Simmons said he was frustrated.

He had found the girl's drug dealer - and found out that the same person
had supplied drugs to three other area teens who died of overdoses in the
last few years.

A grand jury, however, declined last year to indict the man on manslaughter
charges. They said the state penal code wasn't specific enough. The man was
sentenced to 14 months in a state jail on an unrelated drug charge.

"That's how it started - frustration," said Teri Simmons, Double Oak's
police chief and Sgt. Simmons' wife. "We sat down and said, 'Instead of
complaining about the law not being specific, why don't we change the law?'
And we succeeded, with the help of all the senators and House members
involved."

The law, which took effect Sept. 1, enhances penalties for drug dealers if
the person they sell to dies or suffers serious injury. It's part of the
Texas Controlled Substances Act filed by state Rep. Ray Allen, R-Grand Prairie.

Under the law, the dealer's charges will be bumped up by one degree if the
drug user dies or sustains bodily injury. The section applies to an offense
otherwise punishable as a state jail felony, third-degree felony or
second-degree felony. If the punishment is increased, the law states, the
court can't order the sentence to run concurrently with another sentence.

Mr. Allen said he tacked the bill, originally written by Sen. Florence
Shapiro, R-Plano, onto his drug bill. Ms. Shapiro had tried for six years
to get a similar law passed after a string of heroin overdoses by teenagers
in Plano in the 1990s.

"The intent is to create an appropriate punishment for people whose sale of
drugs causes death or injury," Mr. Allen said. "I was happy to take the
opportunity to make sure drug dealers can't use technicalities and excuses
to hide from the impact of their crimes."

Other states, including Louisiana and Florida, have similar laws. In
Louisiana, it's second-degree murder to distribute narcotics to a person
who dies of an overdose. Those convicted face life in prison without parole
or probation.

Many more states have passed laws that allow families to sue dealers or
health-care providers for monetary damages in the case of an overdose. A
South Dakota jury in 2000 awarded a woman whose husband was killed in a car
accident $268 million, to be paid by the drug dealer who supplied the driver.

Sgt. Simmons said he got the ball rolling locally by writing a letter
describing his investigation to Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Lewisville, who passed
the information on to Ms. Shapiro.

Pushing them behind the scenes was Tara's mother, Trophy Club resident
Elizabeth Childers Brown. She said she was astonished that the grand jury
did not indict the man who supplied her daughter's drugs.

"I just told Tony, 'I just couldn't accept this. What else can we do? How
can we go about changing the law?'" Mrs. Brown said.

The details of the law now sit on a plaque in front of the Trophy Club
police station. The heading reads "Tara's Law." Above the text, there's a
picture of a smiling blond girl.

Mrs. Brown said that she's aware that Tara took the heroin of her own
volition but that the dealer should also be held accountable.

"We hold drunk drivers accountable for their actions. We hold doctors
accountable for lies," Mrs. Brown said. "Why not drug dealers?"