DRUG CONVICT SAYS JUDGE ERRED IN AIRING HIS RECORD

Beloit -- A Beloit man sentenced to eight years in prison on a drug
conviction is seeking to be resentenced because he claims the judge
inappropriately discussed details of the case outside the courtroom.

Terry Weston, 36, was sentenced in July after being convicted of possession
of marijuana with intent to deliver. He was caught with six bags of
marijuana weighing a total of 22 grams, court records say.

After plea negotiations, his attorney and the Rock County district
attorney's office agreed to recommend a sentence of 30 months of probation
and one month in the County Jail, according to court records.

But at the sentencing hearing, Circuit Judge James Welker railed at Weston
about his heroin use and criticized him for quitting a drug program and
fighting with the man driving him to the program. He then sentenced the man
to eight years in prison, records show.

That sentence, according to Paul LaZotte, Weston's attorney, came after
Welker improperly discussed the case at a meeting of the Beloit Crime
Prevention Council.

The day Welker received a confidential presentence report from the state
Department of Corrections, he organized and conducted a Crime Prevention
Council meeting that was attended by Beloit city officials and residents,
LaZotte said in a motion filed last week seeking a new sentencing.

At that meeting, Welker passed out a memo detailing the case, Weston's
criminal history, stating that Weston supported his drug habit by
committing crimes and that he had illegitimate children in Illinois, the
motion said. LaZotte contends the judge's actions violated Weston's
constitutional right to due process.

Beloit Police Chief Dick Thomas, who was at the meeting, said he remembers
that the Weston case was discussed but he does not recall the exact dates
of the discussions.

According to state Supreme Court rules, judges are not to discuss
information they receive in the course of their judicial duties outside of
court. Nor are they to engage in ex parte communication (communicating on a
case without all parties present) unless it is specifically required by law.

Several days after the sentencing, a local newspaper printed a story that
contained information from the memo that was not in the public record, the
motion said.

Welker could not be reached for comment Tuesday on the motion, which asks
that a hearing be conducted by an impartial judge and a new sentencing
hearing be scheduled.