APPEALS COURT TOSSES OUT DRUG TAX-STAMP CONVICTION

MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- Anyone convicted of violating an old state law that
required drug dealers to buy tax stamps is entitled to have the convictions
overturned, an appeals court ruled Tuesday.

The 3rd District Court of Appeals said that a Wisconsin Supreme Court
decision that the law is unconstitutional should be applied retroactively.

The 1990 law required dealers of cocaine, marijuana, LSD, or hallucinogenic
mushrooms to buy stamps from the state Department of Revenue and display
them on their drugs.

Dealers convicted of breaking the law could be imprisoned for five years and
fined $10, 000 for each violation.

The high court ruled in January 1997 that the law violated a drug dealer' s
right against self-incrimination because it allowed authorities to use the
stamp evidence in prosecuting people for drug dealing.

The Legislature has since passed a modified version of the law.

The appeals court ruled in the case of Paul R. Benzel, 27, who was convicted
in 1995 of violating the stamp law, possessing marijuana with the intent to
deliver and being a felon with a firearm.

Benzel argued that his conviction for violating the stamp law should be
thrown out because of the high court decision.

Outagamie County Circuit Judge Joseph Troy rejected Benzel' s argument, but
the appeals court said he was right.

" We conclude that retroactive application of (the high court decision) is
required because failure to do so leads to the untenable result that a
person stands convicted for conduct which has been held constitutionally
immune from punishment, " Judge Thomas Cane wrote for the court.

Copyright 1998 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Checked-by: Melodi Cornett