COURT BACKS NEW DRUG CASE EDICT

MONTGOMERY - A Birmingham woman sentenced to life without parole for the
sale of 3.5 ounces of a liquid morphine mixture to an undercover police
officer will be resentenced as a result of a decision Friday by the Alabama
Supreme Court.

The justices decided without comment to let stand a state Court of Criminal
Appeals ruling, which held that the state's "Drug Barons" law is
unconstitutional and inflicts cruel and unusual punishment as it was
applied to the woman, Theresa Wilson.

The Drug Barons law bases sentencing on the amount of drugs involved rather
than the number of offenses of the defendant. This was Wilson's only drug
conviction.

"This is an outstanding decision," said Bill Bowen, who along with his law
partner, Mark White, represented Wilson without charge.

Wilson, who is serving time at Tutwiler Prison for Women on her first drug
offense, was addicted to prescription drugs and was arrested after she sold
drugs that had been prescribed for a neighbor in East Lake who died of cancer.

"Theresa Wilson received this life without parole sentence because she was
poor and addicted to drugs," White said Friday. "If she had been rich,
powerful or important, she would have received treatment for her problem
rather than the unprecedented punishment she received."

White said the 1986 law was aimed at real drug barons, who routinely are
allowed to cut plea bargains with prosecutors for dramatically reduced
sentences.

Bowen said Friday's decision means Wilson will come before Jefferson County
Circuit Judge Tommy Nail for resentencing. She was sentenced in the
original case in 1998.