GOP LAWMAKER SEEKS TO REFORM DRUG SENTENCING

Albany -- Bill would allow judges to reduce prison terms for low-level
dealers

Non-violent, low-level drug dealers could get more lenient prison
sentences under a measure to reform the state's Rockefeller laws
announced Friday by a conservative Republican lawmaker.

In the most recent effort to change the strict sentencing mandates of
the 26-year-old laws, Sen. John DeFrancisco of Syracuse would increase
the quantity of drugs that would have to be sold or possessed before
the tougher terms kick in.

Currently, an offender convicted of selling two ounces or possessing
four ounces of a narcotic faces a mandatory minimum term of 15 years
to life. DeFrancisco's bill would double the weight minimums before
the mandatory term applied.

The result: Sentencing judges would not be required to impose lengthy
prison sentences on first-time offenders, DeFrancisco said.

"Individuals should be sentenced on an individual basis and not be fit
into a certain class,'' he said. "Every case is different and every
individual is different. This is not 'soft on crime,' and sentencing
judges still would have the discretion to give the maximum if the
particular case warrants it.''

DeFrancisco is the newest Republican to join the ranks of a growing
group of lawmakers, advocates and judges calling for change to the
drug laws. For more than a decade, many liberals and conservatives
have been pushing for reforms, but 1999 could be the year that the
laws -- widely considered a failure at diminishing either the demand
or supply of narcotics -- are changed.

Many observers believe reforms could be implemented this year if used
as a bargaining chip with Gov. George Pataki as he pushes his own
legislative agenda in a year when he is gearing up for a possible run
at national office. In the beginning of his first term, Pataki called
for drug law reforms, but he has failed to address the issue since.
His aides, however, believe the governor will revisit the idea of
reforms after the budget is passed this year.

Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye also made Rockefeller reforms the focus of
her State of the Judiciary address earlier this month, proposing that
appellate-level judges be given the authority to reduce by up to
two-thirds sentences now mandated for high-level drug felonies. She
also proposed allowing judges, with the consent of prosecutors, to
divert some low-level drug felons to treatment programs.

DeFrancisco, however, said Kaye's plan doesn't go far enough and puts
too much authority in the hands of appeals judges.

"It makes more sense to leave sentencing where it should be: with the
sentencing judge,'' he said. "When these laws were imposed, the
concept was: 'You throw the key away and the world is rid of drugs.' I
don't think anyone would agree that this has happened.''

DeFrancisco's bill is the first piece of legislation on Rockefeller
reforms to be filed this session.

The Democratic-led Assembly has long supported some kind of change,
but a spokesman for Speaker Sheldon Silver said Friday that Pataki
must make the first move. "We're waiting to see the governor's program
bill,'' said Silver spokesman Charles "Skip'' Carrier, declining to
comment further.

Likewise, Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, R-Brunswick, is "open''
to reviewing the laws, but most likely only in the context of
approving other criminal justice initiatives, said his spokesman, John
McArdle. "We will do it in totality, and not just in individual
pieces,'' McArdle said.