UNFIT PUNISHMENT

Supreme Court Gives Theresa Wilson A Chance At Justice

In 1986, the Alabama Legislature tried a one-size-fits-all approach to
getting tough on "drug barons." It wrote a law that based sentencing on the
amount of drugs involved rather than a defendant's criminal history.

For "drug baron" Theresa Wilson, the punishment fit her crime the way
basketball giant Shaquille O'Neal's clothes would drape supermodel waif
Kate Moss.

In 1998, Wilson, of East Lake, was sentenced to life in prison without
parole for selling 31/2 ounces of liquid morphine mixture to an undercover
police officer. The mother of two was a first-time offender. The drugs had
been prescribed for a neighbor who died of cancer.

Wilson was no angel. She testified she had been addicted to prescription
drugs since 1991. Prosecutors argued that court records suggested she had
sold drugs before, even though she had not been convicted.

Yet the mandatory life sentence made no sense, no matter how "tough on
crime" Alabama politicians want to appear to voters. There's no doubt that
Wilson deserved significant prison time, but she shouldn't spend the rest
of her life behind bars at Tutwiler Prison for Women.

As the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals pointed out in a September 2001
ruling, she is the only first-time offender to be sentenced to life under
the law. She also would have gotten a more lenient sentence had she sold
the same amount of morphine in other states, the judges noted.

"We find ... based on our analysis of the crime Wilson committed and the
punishment imposed upon her, that the punishment in this case was grossly
disproportionate to the crime," the court wrote in a ruling throwing out
her life sentence.

Thankfully, the Alabama Supreme Court agreed last Friday and let the ruling
stand. That means Wilson will be resentenced before Jefferson County
Circuit Judge Tommy Nail.

Wilson's guilt was never an issue, but her sentence was. Four years later
and four years late Wilson has a chance at justice.