MAN PLEADS GUILTY OF POSSESSING CIGARETTES

Maryville, Mo. - Donald Heming didn't want to risk a long prison term, so
he pleaded guilty to a lesser charge: possession of cigarettes.

When Heming, of Hamburg Iowa, surrendered at the Nodaway County Jail in
Maryville, he admitted having cigarettes - an alkaloid substance described
under Missouri laws.

The episode began when Heming reported to served a 45 day sentence for
violation of probation in Aug. 1996.

That fall, he was charged with possession of an alkaloid (cigarettes) and
possession of a weapon (matches), both felonies, after jailers removed them
from his personal effects.

The Noaway County Jail has a no-smoking policy.

A defining term in the law, "alkaloid", means an organic substance found in
narcotics, but it's also present in caffeine and nicotine.

The Missouri Court of Appeals and Supreme Court declined to stop
prosecution. Heming's trial was to have begun this week.

Conviction as a persistent offender would have meant five to 40 years in
prison.

There will be no incarceration with his negotiated plea, which admits guilt
only to possession of an alkaloid.