DRUG LAWS UNDER REVIEW

Albany -- Source says Pataki administration may back reforms to win
support for "truth in sentencing'' plan

Reforms in court-mandated sentences under the Rockefeller drug laws
may be proposed by the Pataki administration by the end of the month.

A key criminal justice official Thursday said any reforms would likely
be tied to Gov. George Pataki's "truth in sentencing'' plan as a
bargaining chip to create specific prison terms and do away with early
release by the Parole Board for all felons.

So far this year, Pataki has resisted any changes to the 26-year-old
laws that mandate, in some cases, minimum prison terms of 15 years
even for first-time, nonviolent offenders. The proposal may signal the
governor's acknowledgment that his conservative, tough-on-crime plan
for determinate prison sentences will probably fail without a
trade-off to appease the Democrat-led Assembly and scores of advocates
who have been lobbying, for the last decade, to overturn what they
describe as Draconian laws.

Pataki spokesman Patrick McCarthy said that while the governor remains
committed to curbing crime, no plans to revamp the Rockefeller drug
laws have been finalized.

How far Pataki would go -- if he does at all -- to reform laws also
could not be determined Thursday. Early in his first term, Pataki
called for reforms to the Rockefeller laws -- a position he has since
deserted.

Still, Pataki in February praised a reform initiative of Chief Judge
Judith S. Kaye. The governor characterized Kaye's idea to allow an
appellate court to cut harsh sentences in select cases as a
"thoughtful, intelligent proposal'' that "certainly warrants further
review.'' Pataki, however, said he was not yet ready to endorse the
plan.

Drug-related cases accounted for nearly half of all felony filings in
the state court system last year. More than 9,200 inmates in state
prisons as of Dec. 31 were sentenced under the drug laws, according to
data provided by the Correctional Association, an advocacy group and
critic of the guidelines.

However, only 60 of 854 defendants in 1997 who were indicted on A-1
charges -- those that deliver the harshest prison terms -- were
sentenced for A-1 convictions, according to the state's District
Attorneys Association. That means that most drug defendants were able
to plea-bargain down their charges to receive a lesser punishment.

Spokespeople for both Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan,
and Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, R-Brunswick, said they could
not comment on any plans to reform the drug laws until a proposal is
introduced. On the possibility of Pataki's winning approval for his
determinate sentencing plan in exchange for an overhaul of the
Rockefeller laws, Bruno spokesman John McArdle said: "We don't engage
in trade-offs.''

But Republican and Democratic advocates who have been pushing for
changes in the drug laws said they would be willing to give up the
fight against determinate sentencing guidelines in order to reform the
Rockefeller laws.

Kaye's plan, however, would not be enough of a change for John Dunne,
chairman of the Campaign for Effective Criminal Justice. It was Dunne,
as a Republican state senator in the early 1970s, who helped author
the drug laws -- a position he has since abandoned.

"That's a minimal change -- we'd certainly want additional relief'';
namely, giving sentencing discretion to trial judges and providing for
drug court diversion before cases go to trial, Dunne said.

Although he objects to Pataki's determinate sentencing plan, Dunne
said some kind of compromise is to be expected.

"You're going to win some; you're going to lose some,'' Dunne said.
"This is the year for any chance for significant Rockefeller drug law
reforms to be enacted. We're going to have to go to the table
realizing we're going to have to address the issues of parole and
determinate sentences to see drug law reforms.''