DAS, FEDS STILL IN DRUG QUARREL

SOUTH PADRE ISLAND -- With their dockets full and their coffers running
low, several district attorneys from the border region said Thursday they
will stop prosecuting federal drug cases Oct. 1, the start of the new
fiscal year.

Federal attorneys said they are preparing for a deluge of the petty drug
cases, perhaps as many as 2,000 each year, which six of the eight border
prosecutors say are too costly and numerous for them to handle.

Jaime Esparza, district attorney for El Paso and Hudspeth counties, said
the 60 lawyers in his office prosecute about 500 federal drug cases
annually ata cost of $8 million to local taxpayers.

"The bottom line here is the bottom line," he said Thursday while
attendinga Texas District and County Attorneys Association conference here.
"It's too expensive to subsidize the federal government by doing what is
clearly theirs to do."

Border district attorneys for months negotiated with the federal officials
to get some kind of financial relief for their prosecutions.

In June, Congress paid out $12 million in an attempt to assuage state
prosecutors until a more permanent funding solution could be found.

But the money has been tied up by a spat among lawmakers, local prosecutors
and the U.S. Justice Department about whether it can be used to pay the
costs of jailing petty drug traffickers, as well as local prosecutors'
salaries.

Esparza said jail costs account for 75 percent of the total cost of
prosecuting the federal drug cases.

Greg Surovic, narcotics chief with the U.S. attorney's Western District
office, said those talks will be ongoing.

Border prosecutors have been stewing as the number of drug seizures at
international bridges and immigration checkpoints has grown along with a
booming federal law enforcement presence on the border.

While major drug busts are prosecuted in federal courts, smaller ones
involving marijuana, steroids or nearly negligible amounts of cocaine or
heroin typically have been handed off to local courts. It's a burden too
heavy to shoulder for the country's poorest counties, state lawyers said.

"My resources are very limited," said Heriberto Silva, district attorney
for Starr, Jim Hogg and Duval counties. "Out of all the border counties, we
have the lowest per-capita income. The burden on the taxpayers is such that
I'm not justified in taking these cases."

Silva said he and four prosecutors handled 250 federal drug cases in 1998.

Rene Guerra, Hidalgo County's district attorney, also handles as many as
200 of the cases each year. Even with 40 prosecutors, the uncompensated
prosecutions are taking their toll.

"This is interfering with more efficient prosecution of state cases,"
Guerra said. "The only solution is for the U.S. Congress to fund more
federal courts and prosecutors."

Joining them in refusing the cases is Cameron County District Attorney
Yolanda De Leon. Val Verde County's District Attorney Tom Lee said he
expects the attorney taking over his district in January will follow suit.

In Webb and Zapata counties, District Attorney Joe Rubio first backed off
from the cases in 1997. However, Webb County now receives $1 million
annually from the federal government for incarcerating small-time drug
smugglers.

"Instead of having to spend annually on incarceration and prosecution,
we're making a million dollars," Rubio said. "There's no federal law saying
we have to take these cases."

Surovic of the U.S. attorney's office said federal prosecutors will take on
all the additional cases.

"It's obviously going to be a strain on the system," he said. "These judges
are already some of the busiest judges in the United States. ... Obviously,
the U.S. attorney has made the decision that these cases are important and
need to be prosecuted."

The border's federal courts handle by far the highest volume of cases in
the nation, but Surovic said there is no additional money in the pipeline
for new courts or prosecutors.

U.S. Attorney Bill Blagg, who oversees federal prosecutions from Waco to El
Paso, has said that, in an effort to expedite cases, his prosecutors will
charge small drug seizures as misdemeanors, rather than felonies, in
exchange for quick pleas of guilty.

Albert Valadez, district attorney for Brewster and Presidio counties, said
he had a staggering caseload similar to other border counties until a
federal courthouse was built and federal prosecutors were added in the Big
Bend region. Now, he receives only about one federal case a month.