JUDGE TO HELP TACKLE BACKLOG OF DRUG CASES

The chief prosecutor in Owsley and Lee counties hopes former Campbell
Circuit Judge William Wehr can bring more than just himself when he
heads to the eastern Kentucky counties in the fall to help end a
backlog of cases. Commonwealth Attorney Tom Hall would like Wehr to
bring along some extra hours in the day to take care of criminal cases
- -- most involving drugs -- that have doubled in the past year.

"It's not a case of not enough judges or not enough prosecutors," Hall
said Wednesday. "It's a case of not enough time."

This week, Chief Justice Joseph Lambert appointed Wehr to preside over
criminal cases in Lee and Owsley counties. Wehr will join Circuit
Judge William Trude, who covers the 23rd Judicial Circuit, which
encompasses those two counties along with his home county of Estill.

Lambert's order said Wehr will have discretion to review all criminal
cases filed in the counties since the beginning of the year and decide
which ones he will be assigned.

"I talked with (Trude) today, and I'm going to go through the docket
and see what I can do to help, said Wehr, who expects to start in
September working three days a week to clear out the cases.

As a senior judge, Wehr works on a part-time basis in return for an
increase in his pension. He is not paid a salary, but does receive
expenses.

In addition to filling in for judges who are ill or on vacation,
senior judges are assigned to help out in counties with high
caseloads. In Boone County, which has the highest caseload in the
state, Senior Judge Stan Billingsley is assigned on a permanent basis.

Wehr said he expect to be in Lee and Owsley counties for about three
months.

All three counties in 23rd circuit are small, and they normally do not
have a lot of criminal cases -- in 2003, they had less than 1,000
cases combined, according to the Administrative Office of the Courts.

But a federal drug-fighting program called UNITE, which targets
street-level drug sales, has led to a doubling of the criminal docket
in the past year in Lee and Owsley counties. Indictments from arrests
in January alone accounted for nearly 100 news cases, prosecutor Hall
said. Estill County is not part of UNITE, and thus has not seen an
increase in cases.

"It's more than we should have," said Hall, whose only assistant in
the three counties is a part-timer who works 11 hours per week. "We've
got extreme drug problems in all three counties."

And it's those drug cases, many involving OxyContin, that have led to
disputes between Hall and Trude over appropriate punishment. Some
anti-drug crusaders in the counties have criticized Trude for handing
out what they consider lenient sentences.

Trude could not be reached for comment Wednesday. But he told a local
newspaper recently that people who traffic in small quantities of
drugs deserve the opportunity to get treatment, rather than go to
jail. As a result, he has granted probation or early release to some
defendants over Hall's objection.

Hall believes when it comes to OxyContin -- which can bring as much as
$100 on the street for a single pill -- there are no small-time dealers.

"If a person is selling two a day, they're generating $1,400 a week in
tax-free income," Hall said "The judge and I, we just don't see eye to
eye. I tend to ask for time to be served, and he doesn't see it my
way."

While on the Campbell County bench, Wehr tended to go along with the
recommendations of prosecutors.