POWERFUL PEOPLE WANT CON SET FREE

Do The Crime, Do The Time - Unless You Have Powerful Arizonans On Your Side

The board that oversees the early release of state prisoners changed its
policies last month to give a well-connected drug convict a shot at getting
out of prison 17 months early to return to medical school.

Former Arizona Govs. Fife Symington, Rose Mofford, Evan Mecham and Raul
Castro, and a Who's Who of other eminent politicians, business people, law
enforcement figures and college professors have written letters of support
for Scott Brannan, 29, an inmate at the Arizona State Prison Complex at
Florence.

Also on Brannan's side is former Chief Assistant Attorney General Steve
Twist, a friend of Brannan's family who wrote Arizona's tough anti-drug
statutes in the late 1980s.

"You would be acting in a manner fully consistent with the laws of our
state to show mercy in this rare case, where it is so clearly called for,"
Twist said in a letter of support. "As the primary author of the laws he
broke, I would fully support such a decision."

Brannan, a longtime Cottonwood resident and stepson of an orthopedic
surgeon, will ask the state Board of Executive Clemency on Monday to
release him by Oct. 8 so he can resume classes at the University of Arizona
before a one-year leave of absence from the medical program expires. He
left when a Maricopa County Superior Court judge sentenced him in June 2001
to 30 months in prison for involvement in a trafficking ring that mailed
marijuana to suppliers in Massachusetts.

Brannan was arrested in 1999 at a Scottsdale "stash house" where police
found a half-ton of marijuana, $5,000 in cash and shipping supplies. They
also found eight vials of steroids in his car and an additional 10 pounds
of marijuana, pills and steroids at his house.

Brannan and three co-defendants faced a host of charges pieced together by
Tempe police over several months using a drug informer and wiretaps.

Court documents indicate Brannan "either originated or further developed
connections with suppliers of marijuana from Tucson, or possibly further
south in Mexico."

In the two years between his arrest and sentencing in August 2001, attorney
A. Melvin McDonald argues, Brannan became the epitome of a good citizen. He
cooperated with investigators. He enrolled in medical school and became a
star pupil, making the top 1 percent of those taking national medical
exams. He volunteered countless hours helping friends, students and the
needy. He promot ed humanitarian causes.

McDonald took those arguments to Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley more
than a year ago, prompting Romley to rip up a plea agreement his office had
proposed in which Brannan would likely have served 42 months in prison.

"Romley, to his eternal credit, said, 'I'm going to give this guy a chance
at probation,' " McDonald recalled.

The handling of the case and those of several co-defendants didn't please
Judge Jonathan Schwartz, who complained during a co-defendant's sentencing
that Romley's office was treating White drug defendants with kid gloves.
Schwartz, according to a court affidavit, said, "If you have the right
attorney, you can get what you want from the County Attorney's Office."

Schwartz complained about McDonald going directly to Romley in Brannan's
case and suggested that if the White drug defendants "had been Black or
Hispanic, the plea agreement would not have been so lenient."

According to the affidavit, Schwartz concluded the men were "getting too
good a deal."

Schwartz's comments prompted sentencing to be transferred to another judge.
But his was a common perception: The system does not treat everyone
equally, particularly in drug cases.

"Hey, we already have marijuana decriminalization for the well-to-do," said
Sam Vagenas, spokesman for a marijuana decriminalization proposal, opposed
by Romley, that is on the Nov. 5 general election ballot. "It's the
minorities and the poor who have to do the time."

Brannan's sentencing and those of his co-defendants fell to Judge Pamela
Franks. Brannan's deal had him pleading guilty to a single charge of
attempted possession of marijuana for sale involving a weight of more than
4 pounds. McDonald lobbied for probation, but Franks sent Brannan away for
30 months.

A pre-sentence report said he deserved prison time because "this offense
involved such a large amount of marijuana, and was committed for financial
gain."

"In addition," the report continued, "the defendant's involvement in this
type of activity took place over a lengthy period of time, was committed on
a repeated basis and involved several co-defendants."

When Brannan drew prison time, McDonald began the clemency request.

At the time, only inmates who had served at least two years of a sentence
and were not within a year of parole eligibility or mandatory release could
seek a commutation. The rule barred anyone with a sentence of three years
or less from applying.

McDonald asked the board in December to waive the rule. It wouldn't. It
told McDonald to seek a pardon, but that was prevented by statutes under
which Brannan was sentenced.

McDonald then asked the board to change its clemency policy so Brannan
could get a hearing. The board agreed on Aug. 23 after McDonald submitted
an inch-thick plea, describing Brannan as a "prodigal son" whose immense
talents were wasted in prison.

Along with four former governors, others signing letters of support
included 30 prison inmates; 102-year-old legislative icon Polly Rosenbaum,
who retired from the Arizona House a few years ago; former Senate President
Stan Turley; former Senate Majority Leader Tom Patterson; former House
Minority Leader Art Hamilton; Valley grocer Eddie Basha, a one-time
candidate for governor; and Burton Kruglick, former chairman of the Arizona
Republican Party.

McDonald said Friday that most are not personal friends of Brannan's but
were approached to support his cause and agreed after reviewing the facts
of his case. Some have corresponded regularly with Brannan.

"Most people I talked to . . . started out by telling me to take a dive,"
McDonald said. They changed their minds "when I sat down and showed them
stuff about his life and what he'd done."

Duane Belcher, executive director of the board, said he was surprised by
Brannan's powerful cheerleading section. But he said it wasn't the only
reason the board amended its policy. Other prisoners with short sentences
had run into the same problem, effectively excluding them from the
commutation statutes.

"It wasn't solely because of this case. There was some historical
background for changing it," Belcher said. "(But) a lot of the effort was
on the part of his (Brannan's) attorney."

At 8 a.m. Monday, the board will hear from those for and against Brannan's
release. So far, there is no opposition. Romley's office will not object, a
spokesman said.

If the board concludes there is reason to go forward, it will hold a second
hearing later Monday to meet with Brannan. Such hearings normally are held
30 days after the first, but in another departure from the norm, Brannan's
hearings were compressed into one day to expedite the process.

McDonald wants Brannan cut loose with a year under his belt so he can
finish medical school. He would commit himself to practice in underserved
communities and work for free for three years to "pay my debt to society."
If Brannan doesn't get his wish, he may still apply to extend his leave of
absence from the university, said George Humphrey, spokesman for the
Arizona Health Sciences Center.

"What . . . benefit is there to the state of Arizona or to the taxpayers if
we lock him away for another year and a few months?" McDonald asked. "Why
not get him into medical school, let him get out and start blessing the
lives of the people. This is, in my view, a no- brainer. . . . It is
absolutely the poster-child case for why we need, in the system of justice,
to have the hand of mercy.