ONE ADDICT GETS THE BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT, ANOTHER DOESN'T

In 1998, narcotics detectives in Broward County arrested Fred Ackerman and
William Ward for cocaine trafficking. Both had no prior felonies. Both
blamed their downfalls on cocaine addictions, and that's where the
similarities ended.

Ackerman, 48, a white businessman from Pompano Beach, got a "withhold of
adjudication" and probation. He had a prominent private attorney. Ward, 45,
a black truck driver from Virginia, got convicted and sent to state prison
for 21 months. He had an appointed attorney who, he said, pushed a plea deal.

A closer look at the two cases shows that the legal system treated Ackerman
far differently from Ward -- so much so that prosecutors appealed the
withhold given to Ackerman, whose family has prominent political ties.

Daniel Aaronson, Ackerman's lawyer, asked the judge for an alternative
sentence to spare him from prison. "My client had a drug problem and needed
help," Aaronson said.

Police had a different take. They say Ackerman sold drugs.

A confidential informant bought cocaine from Ackerman in December 1998,
court records show. In a search of Ackerman's apartment, detectives found
82.5 grams of cocaine, several bags of marijuana, two drug scales, drug
paraphernalia and "handwritings of amounts of cocaine sold."

Ackerman told authorities that the mound of cocaine was for personal use.
He also blamed the episode on a mid-life crisis and a 20-year-old
girlfriend who loved to party.

"I was trying to keep up with her and show her that I'm still young,"
Ackerman told Broward Circuit Judge Ana Gardiner.

The state asked for 21 months.

At the sentencing, Amadeo "Trinchi" Trinchitella -- a Broward political
rainmaker who had worked with the judge on the North Broward Hospital
District -- testified on behalf of Ackerman.

"I would make every effort to see Fred stays on the straight and narrow,"
he said.

Trinchitella, records show, was one of dozens of people who wrote to
then-Gov. Lawton Chiles, asking him to appoint Gardiner to the bench. The
judge said Trinchitella did not influence her, and she said she erred in
giving Ackerman a withhold.

"I was new and not aware I could not withhold on trafficking," Gardiner
told The Herald.

Trinchitella also said he had no sway with the judge.

"I have no influence with Ana," he said.

Attorney Aaronson said withholds were created for people like Ackerman.

"Fred has been a model probationer," the lawyer said.

Ward, the black defendant, challenged his arrest and took his case to
trial. But he said that then-Broward Circuit Judge Joyce Julian had already
made up her mind.

"My lawyer told me the judge believed I was a trafficker," Ward said. "I
didn't want to take a plea. I was innocent."

Police didn't think so. A confidential informant sold Ward 5 ounces of
cocaine to truck back to Virginia to sell for a profit, police reports state.

Ward said he refused to cooperate because, although he had a cocaine
addiction, he was not a trafficker.

"They didn't want to hear that," Ward said. 'One cop kept on looking at my
rings, saying, 'You must be a drug dealer to have all that jewelry.' "

At trial, Ward said his lawyer recommended that he take a plea. "My lawyer
said if I got convicted, the judge would keep me jailed during the appeal
because I was from out of town and a flight risk," Ward said. "That could
take up to four years."

Julian sentenced Ward to 21 months. She told The Herald that she could not
remember the case.

Ward's lawyer, Larry Shendell, said he got a good deal, because the judge
could have given him 70 months.

"You also can't get a withhold on trafficking cases," Shendell said.

But Ackerman did. He remains free and working.

Ward said he lucked out because his trucking company took him back.

"I got lucky," he said. "Can you imagine trying to get a job with a felony
conviction?"