FINING DRUG DEALERS INEFFECTIVE, MANY SAY

Most Of Those Convicted Are Low-Level Sellers And Can't Pay

David Zuniga, a man convicted of drug-trafficking, believes that his
punishment doesn't fit the crime.

A judge sentenced Zuniga to 5 years and 10 months to 7 years in prison and
fined him $50,000 last year after Zuniga pleaded guilty to drug-trafficking
and conspiracy charges.

''How does anyone even expect an inmate to come up with that kind of
money?'' said Zuniga, 29, after being contacted by the Winston-Salem
Journal. ''It looks to me as if somebody, somewhere is cashing in bigger
than the drug dealers out there.''

Nearly 20 years ago, state legislators gave judges the right to impose
steep fines on those convicted of drug trafficking in addition to long
prison sentences. At the time, legislators said that toughening the
penalties would deter dealers from distributing large amounts of illegal
drugs and protect citizens from drug use.

But has it worked? Critics say that the fines and other penalties are
unfairly aimed at poor, street-level dealers and have failed to curtail the
flow of illegal drugs into the state.

''Politicians wanted to go home and tell people that they were hard on
drugs,'' said George Cleland, the author of the state's first drug law that
contained provisions for fining those convicted of drug trafficking. ''But
the law hasn't worked because its approach is flawed. We need to stop
putting nonviolent drug offenders in prison.''

Even supporters of the law admit that it has flaws. District Attorney Tom
Keith and Judge L. Todd Burke of Forsyth Superior Court support the idea of
fines but said that most of those convicted of drug trafficking

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don't pay them when they are released from prison.

''A fine looks good in the media,'' Keith said. ''But it's whistling up a
rope. Drug dealers don't have anything we can find.''

Aiming at the wallet

Under state law, judges can fine defendants who are convicted of
trafficking marijuana, cocaine, heroin or any other illegal drug. The fines
range from $5,000 for trafficking 10 to 50 pounds of marijuana to $250,000
for trafficking 33 ounces or more of cocaine or methamphetamines.

Most people convicted of trafficking cocaine and marijuana in Forsyth
County are fined $50,000 and sentenced to 35 months to 42 months in prison,
court records show.

Court officials in Forsyth County and nearby areas say they collect only a
small amount of the fines imposed in drug-trafficking convictions. Despite
the low collection rate, supporters say that fines and other sanctions are
appropriate.

''If the law was being enforced, it would have an impact,'' said Rufus
Edmisten, a former N.C. attorney general. ''The thing a drug pusher hates
to lose most is his money.''

Pressure to get tough

Cleland, the former counsel for the N.C. Legislative Drug Commission and a
former law professor at the Institute of Government at the University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill, wrote the original drug law in North
Carolina that made drug trafficking a felony.

Legislators enacted the law -- called the N.C. Controlled Substance Act --
in 1971 in an era when President Nixon called for a ''war on drugs'' in the
United States.

At the time, Cleland said it was ''the most adequate law in the United
States'' to remedy the social ill of illegal drug use.

Nearly 30 years later, Cleland says the law and its tougher sanctions that
- -- for the first time -- punished traffickers like other offenders have not
stopped drug trafficking in North Carolina.

''It is unrealistic to think that you will get these fines paid,'' said
Cleland, a lawyer in Winston-Salem. ''Most of these people involved in the
drug trade have never seen $50,000 in their lives.''

In 1980, former Gov. Jim Hunt and Edmisten proposed severe, mandatory
prison sentences and larger fines for people convicted of drug trafficking
when they saw that the Controlled Substance Act was having little effect on
the drug trade. At the time, Hunt said that the provision was an emergency
measure needed to fight drug smugglers.

Under the Controlled Substance Act, the maximum penalty for the sale of
heroin was 10 years in prison with parole possible after two years and a
$10,000 fine. The same maximum penalties applied for the sale of cocaine
and methaqualone (a hypnotic sedative), and the maximum for the sale of
marijuana was five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.

The sanctions proposed by Hunt and Edmisten required mandatory minimum
sentences for drug trafficking and fines of up to $500,000.

Hunt and Edmisten said that drug smuggling had increased significantly
because several nearby states had adopted tougher drug laws. They also said
that their proposal would establish broader legal distinctions between
those who sell drugs on a large scale and small-time drug users and dealers.

''North Carolina is increasingly being used as a landing site and
distribution center for major drug dealers,'' Hunt said at that time. ''We
must strengthen our commitment for fighting the big-time drug dealer who
has been driven to North Carolina by strong laws which have been enacted in
states such as Florida and others.''

Later that year, the General Assembly passed the tougher sanctions as part
of an overhaul of the state's drug laws. Hunt's position on fines has
softened today, however. ''Fines shouldn't be considered a silver bullet,''
said Tad Boggs, Hunt's press secretary. Hunt believes that tough drug laws
- -- combined with prevention, treatment and education -- can help solve the
problem, Boggs said.

Getting the money

Tim Severo, an assistant district attorney in Forsyth County, said that the
fines are necessary.

''In theory, the $50,000 fine would be an effective tool to prosecute drug
trafficking because drug trafficking is financially motivated,'' Severo
said. ''It is one of the most effective ways to break the back of
large-scale distribution of narcotics.''

Many drug dealers have assets that federal and state authorities can seize
after offenders are arrested and convicted, said Severo, who prosecutes
defendants charged with trafficking and drug possession charges.

However, state authorities aren't aggressively pursuing the collection of
those fines when defendants are convicted of trafficking or are released
from prison, Severo said.

There is no punishment for convicted traffickers who do not pay their fines
after they are released, Judge Burke said. State officials can seize the
state tax returns of convicted traffickers, but it would take years to
satisfy those debts, Burke said.

Still, there are officials who try to collect the fines. John Siskind, a
paralegal for the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools which receives money
from such fines, looks for the assets of convicted traffickers. He searches
records in the register of deeds and tax offices. Most people convicted of
trafficking in Forsyth don't have many real assets such as houses, cars,
boats or land, he said.

If offenders do own property, Siskind begins the legal process to seize
assets. Since 1995, though, Siskind has collected less than $20,000 in
fines owed by convicted drug traffickers.

''I don't spend a lot of time on this,'' Siskind said.

How does that $20,000 compare to the amount of fines actually levied? It's
hard to tell. In their records, state officials do not differentiate
between fines and forfeitures -- property seized during drug arrests. But
based on an average fine of $50,000 levied in Forsyth County, the 41
convictions for trafficking cocaine or marijuana in 1999 would generate
more than $2 million if the fines were paid.

State law allows judges to place liens on real estate and other property
owned by offenders who don't pay their fines. These liens will show up on
credit reports if an offender applies for a car loan or a mortgage, Siskind
said.

That's not much of a deterrent, Edmisten said. Few convicted drug
traffickers care about civil penalties or black marks on their credit.
''They slip through the cracks and don't pay their fines,'' he said.

Trafficking fines were intended for drug kingpins who distribute large
quantities of narcotics, not street-level dealers who sell small amounts,
said Steven Clarke, a professor of public law and government at the
Institute of Government at UNC Chapel Hill.

''It's a myth that (low-level dealers) are loaded with money,'' Clarke
said. ''Many of these people are on drugs and selling drugs to support
their habits. It is unrealistic to think that fines can be collected from
these people.''

Judges often recommend work release for those convicted of drug trafficking
so that they can make money to pay their fines. But offenders usually are
hired for minimum-wage jobs and don't make enough to pay their other
expenses, Clarke said. ''Big-time drug dealers would be able to pay the
fine,'' Clarke said. ''But it would be hard for poor people to pay this
money after being in prison for three years. A $50,000 debt would be hard
for a middle-class person to pay.''

Inmates' views of fines

Zuniga and other inmates convicted of drug trafficking who were contacted
by the Journal say they don't like the fines hanging over their heads.

''I do not, under any circumstance, feel that I should have to pay this
outrageous fine,'' Zuniga said. ''A prisoner is free of all debts to
society once he or she completes (their) sentence.''

Chris Crumpton, 37, formerly of Winston-Salem, said he doesn't know how he
will be able to pay his $50,000 fine after he is released from prison.
Crumpton, an inmate at Wilkes Correctional Center in North Wilkesboro, was
sentenced to 35 months to 42 months in prison after being convicted of
trafficking in cocaine in 1999.

Crumpton said that he will try to get a job to support his family.

''I don't see how the law allows a judge to put a man behind bars and then
expects him to pay a fine that is more than a middle-class family makes in
a year,'' Crumpton said. ''I don't think it is fair to pay this fine and do
the time, too.''

Trying to increase collection

Severo suggests that the law be amended and allow judges to give mandatory
sentences to people convicted of drug trafficking and place them on
probation after they serve their time. As a condition of probation, the
offender would have to pay the fines, Severo said.

Judge Burke agreed with this proposal and suggested that legislators
examine ways to collect fines from convicted traffickers.

Edmisten, also a former secretary of state in North Carolina, favors a
similar plan. As a condition of a drug trafficker's release from prison,
the offender must be forced to pay the fines if he has the money to do so,
said Edmisten, a Raleigh lawyer and a registered lobbyist.

''They must realize that we will take your money, or we'll put you back
into the pokey,'' he said.

Severo also proposed better methods of identifying and seizing the assets
of convicted traffickers such as hiring independent contractors to track
civil judgments against offenders and to find the offenders' assets.

''A prison sentence is never enough to deter drug trafficking,'' Severo
said. ''Major-league narcotic distribution is about money. What we need is
a more effective way to collect the fines.''

A state agency could be established within the N.C. Attorney General's
office to monitor and collect fines that convicted felons owe -- including
drug traffickers who have the resources to pay them, Edmisten said. A team
of lawyers could work with the N.C. Administrative Office of the Courts to
improve the rate of collections, he said.