HOW THUGS GET OUT

The man who was once Wilmington's most notorious drug dealer is back
living among us, having served just 16 years of a 280-year sentence.

In 1990, when David Crummy was imprisoned for trafficking and other
serious crimes, North Carolina offenders usually served a tiny
fraction of their actual sentences. Even so, Crummy was expected to
serve about 35 years.

But then he allegedly helped put away some other bad guys - at least
five major drug dealers, according to the sentence-reduction motion
his lawyer filed in 2005. The law encourages such deal-making as a
way to get to higher-level dealers and suppliers.

Based on this "substantial assistance," prosecutors (including former
District Attorney John Carriker) and Sid Causey, the former head of
vice and narcotics and now New Hanover County sheriff, approved
cutting Crummy's sentence. Special Superior Court Judge Gary Trawick
signed off. Crummy was paroled in May.

Maybe the deal was justified. Still, it's more than a little
unsettling that someone with Crummy's record can serve even a day
less than his full sentence.

At the time of his 1989 arrest, he and his gang were supplying at
least half the crack cocaine on the city's streets. And while out on
bail before his drug trial, he was charged in a shooting spree that
wounded four people.

Yet in the world of drugs, there's always someone worse. So, often
while holding their noses, law enforcement officials will cut a deal
if it means putting an even more repugnant criminal out of business.

At some point, it's worth asking how much society benefits from these
trade-offs. Put another way, would law-abiding citizens be better off
if a man who murdered three people gets leniency because he helps
convict five others who murdered, say, 10?

Crummy may not have killed anyone, directly. But crack cocaine has
cut short lives and ripped apart families. He was instrumental in
bringing that misery to Wilmington. Now he's back.