BARRINGTON DRUG-BUST TRIAL GETS UNDER WAY

PITTSFIELD -- The first jury trial in connection with last year's
Great Barrington drug sweep -- which could result in at least two
years of jail for a number of teens under a mandatory sentencing law
- -- stalled temporarily yesterday when the pool of jurors ran dry.
From a pool of about 50, 12 jurors were seated in Berkshire Superior
Court to hear the case of 18-year-old Kyle Sawin of Otis, who is
facing three charges of marijuana distribution and three charges of
selling drugs within a school zone. Jury selection will continue
today with the selection of two more jurors to hear the case;
typically 12 jurors and two alternates are seated for jury trials.
Eighteen people were indicted after the drug sweep in Great
Barrington last year. Sawin is one of seven defendants whose cause
has been championed by a grass-roots group known as Concerned
Citizens for Appropriate Justice. The group says mandatory
sentencing for a school-zone violation is particularly harsh
for teenagers with no prior records who are accused of selling small
amounts of marijuana. Though testimony did not get under way
yesterday, defense attorney Judith Knight, during pretrial motions
before Superior Court Judge John A. Agostini, indicated she will show
that Sawin was a victim of entrapment, a vulnerable teen with a drug
problem. She indicated Sawin would not have sold drugs were it not
for the persistent overtures of undercover officer Felix Aguirre, who
Knight said smoked marijuana with some of the young people he was
doing business with to curry favor. Knight's strategy means that she
has the burden of proof in showing that Sawin was entrapped by police
and that he was not predisposed to selling drugs; the prosecution can
respond by attempting to show that Sawin was, in fact, prone to drug
dealing. Her entrapment defense will include testimony from several
witnesses who will first undergo "voir dire" questioning, without the
jury present, before they testify for jurors. A key witness, Knight
indicated, is a substance abuse and addiction counselor who was
working with Sawin before, during and after the drug investigation
carried out by the Berkshire County Drug Task Force. Knight told
Agostini that counselor Maro Hall of the Brien Center would testify
to Sawin's vulnerability and susceptibility to the overtures of
Aguirre. But whether Hall will make it to the witness stand was in
question yesterday during pretrial discussions. The lawyers were in
dispute over whether Knight had given proper notification to the
district attorney's office regarding Hall's testimony and whether she
was being called specifically as an expert witness. Knight said she
had given proper notification, but Assistant District Attorney
Richard M. Locke disagreed, and the matter was left undecided when
the arguments concluded yesterday.

Agostini will make a decision on the matter today, when opening
arguments and initial testimony will begin. During a morning of legal
debate, Darryl and Laurie Sawin, Kyle's parents, sat holding hands.

During a break, Laurie Sawin went to her son, a slightly built blond,
and gave him an encouraging pat on the shoulder. Locke had made a
motion before the judge that all the witnesses be kept out of the
courtroom during the trial, including Laurie Sawin, but Knight
protested, and Agostini allowed her to remain. Knight also argued
for a change of venue in the case because of pretrial publicity, and
Agostini held off until determining whether impartial jurors could be
found. It was a close call. Of the 50 or so initial jurors to file
into the courtroom, almost half raised their hands when asked if they
were familiar with the Great Barrington drug cases. For that reason
and other personal matters, nearly 30 jurors were dismissed after
speaking privately to the lawyers and the judge.

The lawyers challenged nine or 10 others who were eventually seated,
with a total of 12 were seated by lunchtime. The Great Barrington
drug sweep, which focused on the Taconic parking lot off Railroad
Street, generated much controversy in South County and sparked the
formation of the Concerned Citizens for Appropriate Justice. The
group generated a petition with some 2,000 signatures against
Berkshire County District Attorney David F. Capeless' decision to
seek school-zone violation charges against all defendants in the drug
investigation. The school-zone charge carries a minimum mandatory
jail term of two years. The citizens' group contends that Capeless
has failed to use his power of discretion against defendants with no
prior record who sold small quantities of marijuana. They also have
presented research showing that marijuana-only cases rarely, if ever,
are prosecuted in Superior Court, even if a school-zone charge is
pending as well. Such cases are typically handled at the District
Court level, but in this case 18 people were indicted by a grand
jury. Some have more serious drug-dealing charges pending against
them, involving cocaine, ecstasy and ketamine, a powerful
tranquilizer. The Taconic parking lot area is within 1,000 feet of
the Great Barrington Co-operative Preschool and the Searles/Bryant
School complex.

For most of last summer, during the peak of the investigation, both
of the schools were closed.

On the witness list read to jurors yesterday were the names of
several other young people charged in last year's drug raid: Justin
Cronin, John Rybacki and Alexandra Brenner. Brenner was charged with
a single count of marijuana distribution, but no school-zone charge
was lodged against her. Her case was handled in Southern Berkshire
District Court, and in March was continued without a finding. Cronin
and Rybacki, who will be called by the prosecution, each have cases
pending in Superior Court. Locke told Agostini yesterday that neither
witness had been made any promises in exchange for their testimony
against Sawin. Among the witnesses to be called are officers from the
drug task force, the Great Barrington Police Department, a Great
Barrington selectman and a number of other young people.