PROSECUTORS DISPLEASED WITH ASPECTS OF NEW METH LAW

EVANSVILLE, Ind. (AP) -- Some prosecutors in Indiana are displeased with
the state's new methamphetamine law because it eliminates a mandatory
20-year sentence for most dealers.

Vanderburgh County Deputy Prosecutor Mike Perry joined police officers
earlier this year to lobby for the new law.

Perry said most prosecutors and law enforcement officials agree the law did
a good thing when it put methamphetamine offenses on par with cocaine
violations.

"We were really pleased that we now have a potential for 'A' level felonies
for methamphetamine," Perry said.

A "class A" felony is the most serious offense under Indiana law -- except
for murder and -- calls for a 20-year minimum sentence.

Perry said he was excited with the changes until he discovered the
Legislature also had changed the minimum sentences for 'A' felonies to give
judges sentencing latitude.

In the past, a 20-year sentence that couldn't be suspended gave prosecutors
leverage to get a suspect to plead to a 10- to 15-year sentence.

Prosecutors now have lost an effective negotiating tool, Perry said.

Not surprisingly, Vanderburgh County's chief public defender, Steve Owens,
agrees with the changes.

"It's important that judges now have the ability to order alternatives --
or at least we can argue that the judges use their discretion," Owens said,
noting that judges now can sentence offenders to treatment.

Owens said the sentencing alternative could be especially important for
offenders who "are not dealers in the classic sense," but sell only enough
to support their own habits.

Vanderburgh County Prosecutor Stan Levco found good and bad in the new meth
law, but he said he was not offended that judges now can suspend sentences.

"And that's because the reality is we're incarcerating people faster than
we have places open to put them," Levco said. "Since we haven't been
building (more prisons), it seems reasonable to me to do something about
the penalties."