MOTHER WORKS TO MAKE SHORTENED SENTENCES FOR METH OFFENSES RETROACTIVE

LITTLE ROCK -- The one thing Lynn Burch wants for Christmas more than
anything else is for her son to come home from prison.

Nearly four years ago, Lynn and her husband, Jeff, who live in
Springdale, watched as their middle son, Daniel, stood before a judge
and was sentenced to 10 years in prison for manufacturing and
possessing methamphetamine with intent to deliver.

The highly addictive drug, which had already made addicts of her two
other boys -- they have since gone into drug rehab and have kicked
the habit -- had their third son in its clutches.

Daniel Burch was sentenced under a 1997 state law that added meth
offenses to the list of crimes that require murderers, rapists and
other violent offenders to serve at least 70 percent of their
sentence before they are eligible for parole.

"It's heartbreaking," Lynn Burch said. "I've never said my son
shouldn't do time. But I don't think they need to send him away for
seven years when he was 23 years old. He won't get out until he's
30.

"He's having to serve more time than some child molesters or people
that rape ... Ricky Crisp even served less time and he was convicted
of killing two."

Crisp, whose 16-month-old daughter and her 4-month-old cousin died in
a sweltering car after he and a friend went looking for mushrooms and
arrowheads, was convicted in early 1999 of two counts of
second-degree murder and sentenced to 14 years in prison. The
Garfield man was paroled in December 2002 after serving just over
three years in prison.

"I just don't understand it. I've just given up asking why," Lynn
Burch said.

She said her son and other meth offenders need rehabilitation and
treatment rather than extended prison time. She said she has
counseled and helped several friends of her sons who are addicted to
the drug kick the habit.

The General Assembly, in 1997, because of a rise in meth use and
manufacturing in Arkansas at that time, approved Senate Bill 196,
later signed into law by then-Gov. Mike Huckabee as Act 1135, which
required people convicted of meth manufacturing to serve 70 percent
of their sentence.

With the new law the state's prison population rose and one of the
reasons for the rise was that users and makers of the illegal drug
were having to spend a longer time behind bars.

In 2005, the prison population reached record numbers, and the backup
of state prisoners in county jails skyrocketed. The Legislature also
faced a tight budget and possible cuts.

After debating a series of proposed bills, including some that would
take meth makers out of the 70 percent requirement, the Legislature
amended the law to make meth manufacturers convicted after Aug. 12,
2005, eligible to serve 50 percent of their sentence if they
complete substance abuse treatment, receive their high school
equivalency degree and vocational programs.

Sen. Jim Luker, D-Wynne, said the Arkansas Sheriffs Association and
prosecutors opposed attempts to make the 50 percent requirement
retroactive to 1997 and spoke at several legislative committee meeting.

"They saw it as a truth-in-sentencing issue," Luker said, adding that
juries based their sentences on the understanding that the person was
going to be serving at least 70 percent of his sentence.

Senate President Pro Tempore Jack Critcher, D-Batesville, said
prosecutors said they might have pressed for harsher sentences if
they had known the law would be amended.

"I think they had a good point," Critcher said, though he favored
making the change retroactive.

Washington County Prosecutor John Threet said he was concerned during
the 2005 legislative session that lawmakers might try to remove
murder, rape and robbery from the 70 percent rule.

"That was what I didn't want to see happen," Threet said, adding that
while meth dealers was a major concern for him, making sure violent
offenders stayed behind bars as long as possible was paramount.

"I would never put a meth manufacturer above a rapist or murder," he
said.

Lynn Burch said she supported the amendment even though it would not
affect her son, and she met with her representative, Rep. Doug
Matayo, R-Siloam Springs.

"I knew it would not be retroactive for my son but I didn't think
other families should be going through what I was going through," she
said.

Earlier this year, Daniel Burch filed a clemency request and his
mother arranged a meeting with Matayo's successor, Rep. Jon Woods,
R-Siloam Springs.

Woods said last week he was impressed with Daniel
Burch.

"It just breaks your heart to see such a good young man in that
situation," Woods said. "He's a sharp young man, has a lot of promise
. he's a good kid."

Woods said he questions why the Legislature in 2005 did not make the
50 percent law retroactive, but he said he understands the concerns
raised by the sheriffs and prosecutors.

"It just doesn't sound like a level playing field," he
said.

Woods later wrote a letter in support of Daniel Burch's clemency
request to the state Parole Board, which recommended the inmate be
granted clemency. Gov. Mike Beebe did not act on the request last
month, which in effect means the request was denied.

"She really loves her boys," Woods said about Lynn Burch. "She had a
difficult time but she's trying to do whatever she can."

Lynn Burch said she will continue trying to get her son released from
prison.

"On Jan. 4, it will be four years he's been in prison and he still
has three more years. It's not fair," she said.