Report: D.A. drops charges for drug task donations

SAN ANTONIO (AP) A South Texas district attorney gives
people who get caught with Mexican prescription drugs the option
of making the felony charge disappear with a donation to a drug
task force, the San Antonio ExpressNews reported Sunday.

"It just goes to show justice is for sale in South Texas,"
said attorney John Bull, a criminal defense lawyer who represents
several clients charged with illegal possession of prescription
drugs.

Hundreds of people go to Mexico to buy their prescription
medicine cheaply, with at least some unaware that Texas law
prohibits possession of the drugs. Most arrests result from
routine traffic stops by sheriff's deputies or the Department of
Public Safety.

Possession of a controlled substance is a seconddegree
felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

District court records indicated that 200 to 300 people have
been arrested on charges of possession of Mexican prescription
drugs over the past two years in the counties of Frio, La Salle
and Chambers.

Most defendants end up with a felony conviction, probation
and a fine between $2,500 and $10,000.

In some cases handled by District Attorney Lynn Ellison,
however, prescription drug defendants have had charges dismissed
for donations up to $2,500 to the 81st Judicial District Drug
Task Force.

Ellison personally decides when to dismiss charges.
"If we think there is insufficient evidence (to prosecute a
case), we will ask them if they will make a charitable
contribution," he said. The request is not part of a plea
agreement, he said.

"If they don't want to do it, we just go ahead and
prosecute. There is no hard sell (on making the contribution),"
Ellison said.

Ellison's jurisdiction includes Frio, La Salle, Karnes,
Wilson and Atascosa counties. The task force covers all those
counties except for La Salle.

Attorney Bull said not all defendants are treated equally.

"Most defendants charged with having Mexican prescription
drugs are Anglo," Bull said. "No one is making these deals to my
poor Hispanic clients charged with other kinds of drugs."
Ellison estimated that his office has collected about
$10,000 in drug task donations from prescription drug cases over
the last couple of years.

The donation must be paid up front, Ellison said, unlike
fines, which can he paid out over the course of a probated
sentence.

An attorney for a Louisiana casino owner who contributed
thousands of dollars to the task force after his arrest in Frio
County told the newspaper that his client had yet to be indicted
when his client was offered a deal.

"He owned a casino and had a gaming license," said the
lawyer, who did not want to be identified. "He was afraid if
anything showed up on his record he'd lose the license. I
conveyed this to the prosecutor and they allowed him to make a
contribution. He was never indicted."

Some criminal justice experts questioned the ethics of
exchanging donations for dropped charges.

Bexar County Senior District Judge Peter Michael Curry said
the practice is unethical and probably illegal. "He either
enforces the law or forgets about it," Curry said.

Lawyer and legal ethics expert John Pickney, former chairman
of the local bar association grievance committee, didn't think
the practice is illegal.

"Prosecutors have so much discretion on whether charges are
instituted or not," he said.