FEDERAL JUDGES GET MORE POWER IN DRUG SENTENCING

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court today gave federal judges greater
power to impose longer terms behind bars for some convicted drug
traffickers, unanimously upholding the prison sentences given to five
Illinois men.

Writing for the court, Justice Stephen G. Breyer said it does not matter
that a federal jury did not make clear whether it found the men guilty of
conspiring to distribute cocaine in its powder or ``crack'' form. The
sentencing judge was free, Breyer said, to sentence the men as if they had
been convicted of dealing in both illegal drugs.

Under federal sentencing guidelines, the punishment for crack-related
crimes is much tougher than crimes linked to powder cocaine.

Vincent Edwards, Reynolds Wintersmith, Horace Joiner, Karl Fort and Joseph
Tidwell were convicted in 1993 for their participation in a drug-selling
conspiracy based in Rockford, Ill.

The trial judge told jurors they could convict the men of violating a
federal drug-conspiracy law if prosecutors proved they were involved with
measurable amounts of powdered cocaine ``or'' crack cocaine.

After the jury found the men guilty of participating in an illegal
conspiracy, the judge sentenced them based on his finding that the illegal
conduct had involved both cocaine and crack.

Fort and Wintersmith were sentenced to life in prison. The other three
received prison sentences ranging from 10 to 26 years, and a federal
appeals court upheld all five sentences.

All five men appealed, contending that they were entitled to shorter
sentences or even a new sentencing proceeding. But today's ruling rejected
those arguments.

``The judge was authorized to determine for sentencing purposes whether
crack, as well as cocaine, was involved,'' Breyer said, adding that the
jury's belief about which drugs were involved was beside the point.

The case is Edwards vs. U.S., 96-8732.