DISCRETION CALLED FOR IN DRUG CASE

A March 24 letter to the editor supported the prosecution, without
exception, of school-zone charges carrying a minimum two-year sentence
against all of the young people charged in the Triplex sting
operation. The writer, Robin Mazzantini, asked, "Who are the more than
400 people who signed [the petition urging prosecutorial discretion]?
Are they all relatives or close family friends?" As a former assistant
district attorney who has prosecuted, and now defends, school-zone
cases, I stand with the more than 400 people asking the district
attorney to use the discretion that comes with his office to decide
whether any of these young people should face a two-year mandatory
minimum sentence and felony conviction.

The school-zone charge, with its mandatory sentence, is a blunt
instrument. It works as a penalty enhancement that may be tacked on to
any charge of selling, or possessing drugs with the intent of selling,
within 1,000 feet of a school property, whether college or day-care,
whether in session or not. It applies to marijuana in any quantity and
it applies whether or not the person charged is a first-time offender.
It gives the district attorney the power to send a third-time offender
selling crack cocaine on the steps of a middle school to state prison
for two additional years. A district attorney can also, if he or she
chooses, send a 17-year-old high school student with absolutely no
record to prison for two years for selling a joint, blocks away from
any school property. The Legislature armed district attorneys with the
school-zone charge with the expectation that a district attorney would
go after the first defendant but would use his constitutionally
granted prerogative to consider mitigating factors when dealing with
the second.

The job of the district attorney is to decide, on behalf of the
citizens of Berkshire County, when it is appropriate to seek the
two-year penalty. Unfortunately, in Berkshire County, school-zone
cases regularly go to trial without regard to the costs, both human
and fiscal.

District Attorney Capeless has agreed to listen to, and consider,
alternatives to the school-zone penalty in the Triplex cases. He is to
be applauded for this. Ms. Mazzantini asks: "If these teens were black
and in the west side of the city, would they get the same
consideration?" They should.

Ira J. Kaplan

Great Barrington