COURT: TAX NOT PUNISHMENT

The state Court of Appeals further muddied the issue of the state's drug
tax, ruling it isn't a form of punishment and doesn't place defendants in
unconstitutional double jeopardy.

The decision Tuesday in a Randolph County case contradicts the position
taken by federal appeals courts, but is in line with two previous state
appeals court decisions on the matter.

Federal courts have said state drug taxes are not a tax but a criminal penalty.

Imposing the tax while prosecuting a defendant on criminal charges amounts
to double jeopardy, which is unconstitutional, federal courts have held.

The state Court of Appeals insisted state trial courts must follow its lead
on the drug tax issue and not be guided by the federal rulings.

"With the exception of decisions of the United States Supreme Court, federal
appellate decisions are not binding upon either the appellate or trial
courts of this state," Judge Joseph John Sr. wrote in the opinion.

The ruling came in the case of Ryan Jeffrey Adams, convicted of drug
offenses and then also sent a bill from the state Department of Revenue for
$456,573.26 for the 1,300 grams of cocaine and 9,000 grams of marijuana
seized by police.

Adams paid a small part of the tax bill.

Then, at his February 1998 trial, he moved to have the charges against him
dismissed, alleging the charges and the tax punished him twice for the same
crime.

The Randolph County Superior Court judge granted the dismissal motion.

The state appeals court said the judge erred.

Adams' lawyer, Jonathan Megerian of Asheboro, said he will ask the state
Supreme Court to review the decision.

For a time, the state Department of Revenue stopped collecting the tax after
convicted drug traffickers who paid part of their drug taxes cited federal
rulings and petitioned courts to reopen their cases or have charges dismissed.

But the agency revived the tax collections on Oct. 31.

Hampton Dellinger, who worked on the Adams case for state Attorney General
Mike Easley, said the ruling makes it clear state trial courts must obey the
opinions of state appellate courts.

"The ruling also means that more traffickers of illegal drugs in North
Carolina will face both criminal penalties and civil taxes, just as the
General Assembly intended," Dellinger said.