PAROLE VIOLATOR GETS MAXIMUM TERM IN DRUG CASE

GALVESTON -- A Houston man who remained free despite two marijuana
possession convictions while on parole was sentenced here Friday to
six months in jail and a $2,000 fine.

But attorneys for Keith Andre Baldwin, 30, said they will appeal the
jury verdict that brought the maximum penalty for misdemeanor
marijuana possession.

Baldwin's case has become somewhat of a cause for prosecutors here who
say they are amazed that he wasn't sent back to prison after pleading
guilty to two misdemeanor charges of marijuana possession in Harris
County between his 1995 parole and his 1997 arrest on yet another drug
possession charge in Galveston County.

"This is not a man who is prepared to comply with our laws," assistant
Galveston County District Attorney Elizabeth Gunn said Friday as she
urged County Court-at-Law Judge Mary Nell Crapitto to throw the book
at Baldwin.

The judge complied.

"You've had every break in the world from Harris County," she told
Baldwin. "You're not going to get that in Galveston County."

Baldwin has blown every chance given him to straighten his life out
since he was convicted on felony charges of cocaine possession and
delivery in Harris County, Gunn said.

He violated a 10-year probationary sentence in the felony case and
spent two years in prison before being paroled in 1995 under a
mandatory release program, Gunn said.

While on parole, Baldwin pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor marijuana
possession charges in Houston and was found not guilty in another
case. Authorities involved made no move to revoke his parole, however,
Gunn said.

Houston lawyer Jeb Silberman told Crapitto that Baldwin "made the
mistake of being with the wrong people at the wrong time when he came
down here to Galveston County."

Baldwin was a front-seat passenger in a speeding car in which
sheriff's deputies reported discovering concealed marijuana, the
psychedelic drug PCP and a 9 mm pistol during a March 1997 traffic
stop on Interstate 45.

Although the driver claimed the gun and another passenger claimed to
own the drugs, Baldwin, who had $1,700 in cash in his pocket, was
charged as well.

Baldwin's mother testified Friday that he has helped to support his
two daughters and worked at a liquor store since his release from
prison. She said he has lived with her most of the time and stayed out
of trouble.