DEFENDANT, JURORS PROTEST STIFF SENTENCE IN DRUG CASE

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) -- Jurors who convicted first-time offender
Teresa Wilson of illegally selling a bottle of morphine for $150 don't
like the sentence she received: life without parole.

"In this case the punishment definitely, definitely does not fit the
crime," said juror Keith Loftis, who has written state lawmakers and
congressmen complaining about Mrs. Wilson's sentence.

Another juror, Lee Smith, said he regretted finding Mrs. Wilson guilty
because of the stiff sentence. "It's just not right," he said.

Mrs. Wilson, 30, describes herself as a drug addict who is being
punished too harshly for selling a small amount of the drug, a
powerful painkiller. She's due to be sent to state prison from the
county jail today.

"I messed up one time, and they're trying to ruin my life," she
said.

Judge J. Richmond Pearson, who permanently imprisoned Mrs. Wilson, had
no leeway under mandatory state sentencing laws. "I have no choice
about these sentences, madam," he said at her April 17 sentencing.

But a prosecutor said Mrs. Wilson sold almost twice the amount of drug
needed to invoke the life-without-parole penalty, and a secretly
recorded tape showed she talked to the officer like an experienced
dealer.

"She may not have known what the penalty was, but she knew what she
was selling," said Theo Lawson, an assistant district attorney.

Jurors in March convicted Mrs. Wilson of selling an undercover officer
about 98 grams -- 3{ ounces -- of a morphine mixture, which she
obtained from a neighbor whose husband, a cancer patient, had been on
the drug.

Loftis said evidence showed the actual amount of morphine in the
liquid was far less, about 0.01 grams. She also sold the officer 45
pain-killer pills as part of the same transaction, but that drug did
not carry a life-without-parole mandate.

Under state law, anyone convicted of illegally selling 56 grams or
more of the drug or a morphine mixture must be sentenced to life
without parole. The same punishment is required for anyone who sells
more than 1,000 pounds of marijuana or 22 pounds of cocaine.

While police say morphine has a street value of at least $100 a gram,
Mrs. Wilson let the officer have it for $150: $80 for Mrs. Wilson and
$70 for the neighbor, who wasn't prosecuted.

Mrs. Wilson, in an interview with The Birmingham News from the county
jail, said the low price showed she was no hardened drug pusher. "I'm
an addict, not a drug kingpin," she said.

"There are people out there who have messed up time and time again and
who get slapped on the wrist and get sent home," said Mrs. Wilson, who
has no prior convictions.

Loftis, the juror, said there was no question about Mrs. Wilson's
guilt. But he believed she would receive a light sentence because of
the small amount of morphine the case involved.

"I'm not upset that she's guilty. But that she's going to prison for
such a minuscule amount of drug that was actually sold, that's what

upsets me," he said.

Retired Jefferson County Circuit Judge Dan Reynolds said the case
illustrated the problem with laws that require mandatory sentences for
certain crimes. He called her a "little fish" caught by a law meant to
nab drug kingpins.

"As serious as selling drugs is, I don't think it's as serious as
taking a human life. Life without parole is not the right amount of
time in her case," said Reynolds.