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
miniscule 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.