News (Media Awareness Project) - US MA: Berkshire School Zone Drug Case Fuels Debate |
| Title: | US MA: Berkshire School Zone Drug Case Fuels Debate |
| Published On: | 2005-08-13 |
| Source: | Worcester Telegram & Gazette (MA) |
| Fetched On: | 2008-01-15 20:50:14 |
BERKSHIRE SCHOOL ZONE DRUG CASE FUELS DEBATE
Critics Question Charge, Potential Harsh Sentence
GREAT BARRINGTONa" A colorful mural dedicated to W.E.B. Dubois, the civil
rights leader born in this Berkshire County town, gives the only shot of
character to the Taconic parking lot.
It's an otherwise unremarkable place for people to leave their cars and
hurry into the back entrances of Main Street's bustling shops and restaurants.
And last summer, it's where 17-year-old Kyle W. Sawin was busted for
selling marijuana to an undercover cop.
Ordinarily, his arrest wouldn't attract too much attention. But the spot
is near more than a movie theater, stores and cafes.
A preschool is housed in the basement of a church across Main Street, about
175 paces from the parking lot. An elementary and middle school campus is
about a four-minute walk away, at the bottom of a hill down a side street.
That's close enough to the lot for Sawin - who has no prior
criminal record - to be charged with selling drugs in a school zone, an
offense that carries a mandatory minimum sentence of two years in prison.
And under the law that went on the books in the late 1980s, it doesn't
matter that the schools were closed for the summer.
Although a jury deadlocked last month over whether to convict or acquit
Sawin, Berkshire District Attorney David Capeless says he's sticking to
his policy of fully prosecuting anyone charged with carrying out a drug
deal within 1,000 feet of a school.
He's planning to try the case again, and refuses to drop the school zone
charges.
His lack of leniency against a first-time offender charged with selling
enough marijuana to roll about a half-dozen joints has raised community
concern and angered lawyers and advocacy groups.
They say Capeless is going too far in a case that could come to an easy
end with a plea bargain, sparing the time and cost of a trial and keeping
Sawin - who graduated from high school with honors this year and wants to
go to college - out of jail.
Sawin's case, which is one in a group of 17 arrests made in last year's
undercover operation to rid the Taconic lot of drug dealing and the first
one that's gone to trial, has also renewed attention and opposition to
mandatory minimum sentencing laws. All those arrested face the school zone
charge.
"The notion that taking kids and putting them behind bars for two years in
the name of justice is only going to increase the likelihood of ruining
their lives," said Ethan Nadelman, executive director of the New York
City-based Drug Policy Alliance, which has been following the Great
Barrington cases. "You're derailing these kids for life. You're
eliminating the possibility that they'll become productive adult citizens
down the road."
Sawin, who took the stand in his own defense, declined through his lawyer,
Judith Knight, to be interviewed for this story.
Knight says her client had struggled with drug use during his teenage
years, but eight months of counseling in 2003 and 2004 helped him stay off
hard drugs.
She said he was hanging out in the Taconic parking lot last year with a
new crowd of friends, and told the undercover policeman 15 times
over several weeks that he had no marijuana to sell him.
When he did finally make a sale, it was for $50 in exchange for about
three grams of marijuana. Enough to roll about two cigarettes, Knight said.
Sawin has admitted he sold the officer about equal amounts of the drug
twice, but he's been charged with making three sales totaling roughly 9 grams.
And Knight is arguing that her client, now 18 and living with his parents
in Otis while he works for a landscaping company, was entrapped.
"Entrapment is when an officer persists in putting the idea of a crime in
the mind of someone who wasn't predisposed to commit the crime," she said.
Sawin never had aspirations to be a drug dealer, and putting him in jail
for two years amounts to an unjust punishment, she said.
Court records show that three voluntary drug tests that Sawin took between
December and February came back negative.
"He wanted to show the court that he was addressing his drug issue,"
Knight said.
And his mental health counselor wrote in February that Sawin "worked hard
and succeeded in making necessary changes in his life."
"If the accused has taken the appropriate steps to correct their behavior,
why wouldn't you apply that to the prosecution's case?" Knight asked.
The district attorney's answer is simple: It's a matter of policy.
"By not making exceptions, we're being evenhanded and fair," said
Capeless, who would not discuss the details of the Great Barrington cases.
"We feel it's been effective in combating the drug problem as it relates
to kids. If there's a violation in a school zone, weaTMre going to prosecute."
But if someone charged with selling drugs in a school zone cooperates with
a police investigation, Capeless says there's a chance for a deal.
"In exchange for cooperation, have we dropped school zone charges? Yes.
That has happened," he said. Two teens arrested in the parking lot drug
sweep testified against Sawin and are expected to testify against some
other defendants, but they still face school zone charges.
Other Massachusetts prosecutors say they don't have hard-and-fast policies
for prosecuting school zone cases.
"My feeling is that each case should be looked at on its own and stand on
its own set of facts and circumstances," said Northwestern District
Attorney Elizabeth Scheibel, who prosecutes cases in Hampshire and
Franklin counties, bordering the Berkshires. "The defendant's record would
be factored in, and if a deal goes down at midnight and there's no school
in session and no kids around, that's different than a case where someone
sells drugs inside a school."
Charging someone with selling drugs in a school zone is often a tactic
used by prosecutors who want leverage over a defendant, many defense
lawyers say. In exchange for a guilty plea to a lesser charge, a district
attorney is likely to drop the school zone charge, they say.
While that can be a quick way of disposing of a case, the defense lawyers
say mandatory minimum sentences are simply wrong because they take
discretion away from judges and hand it to prosecutors.
"It forces us to go into a DA's office and we grovel and beg on behalf of
our clients," said David Hoose, a Springfield lawyer. "I'm much more
comfortable with judges stating in open court why they want to impose a
certain sentence. I'm not comfortable when the DAs are the ones with that
power."
Some Berkshire County residents are raising the same concerns.
Erik Bruun, who lives in Great Barrington and runs an investment fund based
in the town, helped organize the Concerned Citizens for
Appropriate Justice, a group that rallied around SawinaTMs case and six
of the other 17 cases where the defendants are teenagers with no prior
record who were arrested for selling small amounts of marijuana.
"There's no question that drug dealing was going on in the parking lot,
and there's no question it was a problem that needed to be dealt
with," Bruun said. "If these kids were selling drugs from their lockers,
I have no problem with a prison sentence. But the punishment of two years
in prison for a first-time offense of selling marijuana in a parking lot
that isn't really near a school is excessive."
Critics Question Charge, Potential Harsh Sentence
GREAT BARRINGTONa" A colorful mural dedicated to W.E.B. Dubois, the civil
rights leader born in this Berkshire County town, gives the only shot of
character to the Taconic parking lot.
It's an otherwise unremarkable place for people to leave their cars and
hurry into the back entrances of Main Street's bustling shops and restaurants.
And last summer, it's where 17-year-old Kyle W. Sawin was busted for
selling marijuana to an undercover cop.
Ordinarily, his arrest wouldn't attract too much attention. But the spot
is near more than a movie theater, stores and cafes.
A preschool is housed in the basement of a church across Main Street, about
175 paces from the parking lot. An elementary and middle school campus is
about a four-minute walk away, at the bottom of a hill down a side street.
That's close enough to the lot for Sawin - who has no prior
criminal record - to be charged with selling drugs in a school zone, an
offense that carries a mandatory minimum sentence of two years in prison.
And under the law that went on the books in the late 1980s, it doesn't
matter that the schools were closed for the summer.
Although a jury deadlocked last month over whether to convict or acquit
Sawin, Berkshire District Attorney David Capeless says he's sticking to
his policy of fully prosecuting anyone charged with carrying out a drug
deal within 1,000 feet of a school.
He's planning to try the case again, and refuses to drop the school zone
charges.
His lack of leniency against a first-time offender charged with selling
enough marijuana to roll about a half-dozen joints has raised community
concern and angered lawyers and advocacy groups.
They say Capeless is going too far in a case that could come to an easy
end with a plea bargain, sparing the time and cost of a trial and keeping
Sawin - who graduated from high school with honors this year and wants to
go to college - out of jail.
Sawin's case, which is one in a group of 17 arrests made in last year's
undercover operation to rid the Taconic lot of drug dealing and the first
one that's gone to trial, has also renewed attention and opposition to
mandatory minimum sentencing laws. All those arrested face the school zone
charge.
"The notion that taking kids and putting them behind bars for two years in
the name of justice is only going to increase the likelihood of ruining
their lives," said Ethan Nadelman, executive director of the New York
City-based Drug Policy Alliance, which has been following the Great
Barrington cases. "You're derailing these kids for life. You're
eliminating the possibility that they'll become productive adult citizens
down the road."
Sawin, who took the stand in his own defense, declined through his lawyer,
Judith Knight, to be interviewed for this story.
Knight says her client had struggled with drug use during his teenage
years, but eight months of counseling in 2003 and 2004 helped him stay off
hard drugs.
She said he was hanging out in the Taconic parking lot last year with a
new crowd of friends, and told the undercover policeman 15 times
over several weeks that he had no marijuana to sell him.
When he did finally make a sale, it was for $50 in exchange for about
three grams of marijuana. Enough to roll about two cigarettes, Knight said.
Sawin has admitted he sold the officer about equal amounts of the drug
twice, but he's been charged with making three sales totaling roughly 9 grams.
And Knight is arguing that her client, now 18 and living with his parents
in Otis while he works for a landscaping company, was entrapped.
"Entrapment is when an officer persists in putting the idea of a crime in
the mind of someone who wasn't predisposed to commit the crime," she said.
Sawin never had aspirations to be a drug dealer, and putting him in jail
for two years amounts to an unjust punishment, she said.
Court records show that three voluntary drug tests that Sawin took between
December and February came back negative.
"He wanted to show the court that he was addressing his drug issue,"
Knight said.
And his mental health counselor wrote in February that Sawin "worked hard
and succeeded in making necessary changes in his life."
"If the accused has taken the appropriate steps to correct their behavior,
why wouldn't you apply that to the prosecution's case?" Knight asked.
The district attorney's answer is simple: It's a matter of policy.
"By not making exceptions, we're being evenhanded and fair," said
Capeless, who would not discuss the details of the Great Barrington cases.
"We feel it's been effective in combating the drug problem as it relates
to kids. If there's a violation in a school zone, weaTMre going to prosecute."
But if someone charged with selling drugs in a school zone cooperates with
a police investigation, Capeless says there's a chance for a deal.
"In exchange for cooperation, have we dropped school zone charges? Yes.
That has happened," he said. Two teens arrested in the parking lot drug
sweep testified against Sawin and are expected to testify against some
other defendants, but they still face school zone charges.
Other Massachusetts prosecutors say they don't have hard-and-fast policies
for prosecuting school zone cases.
"My feeling is that each case should be looked at on its own and stand on
its own set of facts and circumstances," said Northwestern District
Attorney Elizabeth Scheibel, who prosecutes cases in Hampshire and
Franklin counties, bordering the Berkshires. "The defendant's record would
be factored in, and if a deal goes down at midnight and there's no school
in session and no kids around, that's different than a case where someone
sells drugs inside a school."
Charging someone with selling drugs in a school zone is often a tactic
used by prosecutors who want leverage over a defendant, many defense
lawyers say. In exchange for a guilty plea to a lesser charge, a district
attorney is likely to drop the school zone charge, they say.
While that can be a quick way of disposing of a case, the defense lawyers
say mandatory minimum sentences are simply wrong because they take
discretion away from judges and hand it to prosecutors.
"It forces us to go into a DA's office and we grovel and beg on behalf of
our clients," said David Hoose, a Springfield lawyer. "I'm much more
comfortable with judges stating in open court why they want to impose a
certain sentence. I'm not comfortable when the DAs are the ones with that
power."
Some Berkshire County residents are raising the same concerns.
Erik Bruun, who lives in Great Barrington and runs an investment fund based
in the town, helped organize the Concerned Citizens for
Appropriate Justice, a group that rallied around SawinaTMs case and six
of the other 17 cases where the defendants are teenagers with no prior
record who were arrested for selling small amounts of marijuana.
"There's no question that drug dealing was going on in the parking lot,
and there's no question it was a problem that needed to be dealt
with," Bruun said. "If these kids were selling drugs from their lockers,
I have no problem with a prison sentence. But the punishment of two years
in prison for a first-time offense of selling marijuana in a parking lot
that isn't really near a school is excessive."
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