REVAMPING ROCKEFELLER

Promising to soften the state's notoriously harsh Rockefeller-era drug
laws, Gov. George Pataki detailed yesterday his plan to reduce sentences
for some of the most serious drug offenders and offer treatment to
thousands of lower-level drug users.

Prisoners already serving the longest terms would be able to appeal their
sentences.

Though it was not all that reformers wanted, Pataki's proposal went further
than his first attempt in 1999 to soften the penalties required by the drug
laws, which have been abandoned by even some of their original authors.
More than 21,000 people in the state are in prison for drug offenses.

Opponents of the current laws argue that they give judges no discretion in
sentencing, meaning that nonviolent addicts or those who sell only small
amounts of drugs face terms of 15 years to life.

The proposal put Pataki, who built much of his political reputation with
tough-on-crime efforts, in the challenging position of asking lawmakers to
shorten punishments of convicted felons, something prosecutors have
passionately opposed in the past.

But Pataki's proposal,highlighted by a slide show emphasizing his
administration's successes in curbing crime,also called for increasing
punishments for drug offenders caught with guns, as well as beefing up
sentences for some drug-related crimes, including selling illegal drugs
over the Internet.

"It is a comprehensive program, it is an intelligent program, and I'm
hopeful that ... we can convince and work with both houses of the
Legislature to get this proposal turned into law," Pataki said.

Longtime advocates of overhauling the 28-year-old laws called the
announcement a "first step" toward real change. But many said they would
like to permit even more drug offenders to receive treatment instead of
prison time and to give judges greater discretion in handing down punishments.

The drug laws, passed in 1973 under then-Gov. Nelson Rockefeller, specify
mandatory prison terms set by the quantity of drugs used or sold. The laws,
among the harshest in the country, have been blamed for flooding the
state's prisons with nonviolent drug users, including some who were minor
players in the drug trade.

John Dunne, a former Republican state senator from Garden City who helped
pass the original laws but later became one of their most forceful
opponents, praised Pataki's plan as a good start, though he would have
preferred that it go further. "He's being smart on crime, not soft on
crime," Dunne said.

Pataki's plan would allow judges to slash punishments for the most serious
drug crimes:possessing more than 4 ounces of hard-core narcotics or selling
more than 2 ounces. Right now those offenders must be sentenced to at least
15 years in prison; Pataki would lower that to 10 years and allow them to
get out in a little more than 8 years in certain circumstances. Inmates
already in prison could appeal their sentences, potentially affecting 500
inmates, according to Katherine Lapp, Pataki's chief criminal justice aide.

Robert Gangi, director of the Correctional Association of New York, a
prison-reform group, said the "the reform should be more sweeping" but that
Pataki's announcement was a "historic moment."

Pataki's first proposal to soften the laws was defeated by the Assembly in
part because he linked it to a measure that would have eliminated parole
for nonviolent felons, something the Democratic-controlled chamber refused
to do. His revised version does not include that provision.

"I think it's a great step in beginning the negotiation for real, true drug
reform," said Joseph Lentol, the Brooklyn Democrat who chairs the
Assembly's Codes Committee. But he said lesser drug offenders, who make up
"the lion's share" of drug offenders in prison, "will not be touched by
this relief."

Legislators admitted that passing such changes would not be easy in an
environment where elected officials often tout their tough-on-crime records.

"This is the biggest issue of the session, no question," said Dale Volker,
a Republican from the Buffalo area who chairs of the Codes Committee in the
Senate. "But I'm not going to tell you this is going to be easy."

Robert Carney, the district attorney of Schenectady County and president of
the New York State District Attorneys Association, praised the proposal to
beef up sentencing for certain drug crimes but said he was "leery of
anything that will dilute the effectiveness of the drug laws as a tool to
fight particularly violent crime."

The news that Rockefeller drug-law overhaul might finally happen came too
late for Jean Ray, a receptionist at the Abyssinian Baptist Church in
Harlem. Ray served 15 years in prison after being convicted of selling
$23,000 worth of cocaine in 1984. Ray, who said she has since renounced the
"ugly" life she led, said she deserved to be punished for the crime she
committed. But in prison, Ray said, she met women serving shorter sentences
for far more violent crimes. "Fifteen years is a lot of time out of a
person's life when you didn't kill anyone," she said.

Note: Pataki details plan to soften state's harsh '73 drug laws.

Staff writer Jordan Rau contributed to this story.