MAN'S FATE TIED TO DRUG-LAW REFORM

Tier Legislators Say Rockefeller Changes Are Due Soon

BINGHAMTON -- Lance Marrow said he doesn't think God intends for him to go
back to state prison.

It's a place the Binghamton man knows well, having spent more than four
years of a mandatory 15-years-to-life sentence behind bars in Attica and
Auburn on a 1999 felony drug conviction. That conviction was overturned on
procedural issues in January, and Marrow was temporarily set free. But his
fate will ultimately rest with a judge, possibly a jury, and proposed
reforms to the state's 29-year-old Rockefeller drug laws, which call for
mandatory minimum sentences for drug convictions.

Today, the 55-year-old Long Island native will go before Broome County Judge
Martin E. Smith for the first time since his release from state prison in
January. That was several days after a state appeals court overturned his
conviction and ordered a new trial.

Marrow was charged with cocaine possession following a 1997 bust at the
Binghamton apartment he rented, court documents show. But Marrow,
prosecutors said, played a minor role in the crime and had a good record. He
was offered a plea that would have given him a sentence of four months of
weekends in jail and probation. But the plea was rejected and Marrow was
convicted by a jury on much more serious charges.

Even now, he still feels a sense of disbelief about the outcome of his
trial. When the jury read its verdict, Marrow said to himself: "This isn't
possible. This isn't happening to me. I'm going to wake up."

Prison was the last place he ever expected to be, he said. And while the
experience included inadequate health care and indifferent corrections
officers -- his eyes tear up when he talks about it -- it taught him to be
independent and responsible, he said.

Today, Marrow's Vestal attorney, Peter P. Charnetsky, will argue that
Marrow's 1999 felony drug conviction should be dismissed in the interest of
justice. The Broome County district attorney's office, however, has offered
Marrow a plea of three years to life on the charge, with credit for time
served.

The judge may instead order Marrow a new trial.

And what legislators do in the next two weeks toward reforming the drug laws
could also affect the soft-spoken, articulate Marrow. He could be one of the
590 inmates convicted of non-violent Class A felony drug offenses across the
state who could be eligible for release from prison or reduced sentences as
part of proposed reforms to the law.

Marrow, and others like him, often receive longer prison sentences than
those convicted of crimes such as manslaughter, rape or robbery. Under state
law, judges have no leeway in sentencing, and mitigating circumstances have
no weight.

But that may be about to change. And after five years of wrangling and
stalling, Tier lawmakers say they believe reform of the laws will happen
before June 20, when the legislative session ends.

"I'm optimistic and hopeful that we can come together," said state Sen.
Thomas W. Libous, R-Binghamton, a co-sponsor of the Senate reform bill.
"It's been talked about, it's been dragged out. Now, it's time for reform."

Virtually all sides agree that reform is needed. Essentially, proposals call
for increasing the threshold amount of illegal drugs that determines the
severity of criminal charges and offering lesser sentences for non-violent
drug offenders.

Gov. George E. Pataki supports the Senate reform bill. But the sticking
point with the Assembly is who should have more leeway at sentencing -- the
judge or the district attorney, state officials said. The Republican
minority in the Assembly has its own version of reform that is more
conservative than Pataki's or the Senate's, said Assemblyman Robert Warner,
R-Vestal.

His group does not believe the weights should be raised, Warner said. But he
too senses compromise is in the air.

"There's a sense they want to do something agreeable to everyone," he said.

The state debate seems remote to Marrow, who has awaited today with fear and
hope. Since January, he has worked as a temp at IBM Corp. and become active
again with community groups. He lives alone in an apartment on Crandall
Street.

"If the Lord is willing, it'll all go good," he said.