TOUGHER PENALTIES ON TAP FOR "DRUG FREE ZONES"

Users and sellers of illegal drugs beware -- doing so in "drug free zones"
defined by the state will come with tougher penalties.

Navarro County District Attorney Steve Keathley says his office is
increasing use of legislation first put in place in 1993 and clarified in
1995 by the Texas Legislature.

"The small dealers, the front-line street dealers ... over the years
learned to deal in amounts that limited their exposure to major
penitentiary time," Keathley aid. "They lived by the street motto 'don't
get caught holding more than a gram.'"

Living by that motto limited criminal penalties to a maximum of a state
jail felony or, at most, a third degree felony. A state jail felony, which
often results in probation, has a maximum penalty of two years while a
third degree felony tops out at 10 years.

State legislators made the move to set up zones of protection, increasing
the penalty for selling in the areas around schools. Keathley said that was
important. "All of the sudden, parole laws are radically changed ... as is
the sentencing," he said.

Those infractions within 1,000 feet of "proscribed public/children related
places" qualify for penalty enhancements. The areas include: premises
owned, rented or leased by a college, or a playground, or occurring within
300 feet of a youth center, public swimming pool, or video arcade facility,
according to information provided by the district attorney.

There were three important areas of the penalty enhancement, Keathley said.
The legislation added the ability to enhance to the drug free zone charge;
it added "teeth, day-for-day sentencing ... and it requires stacking
sentences when more than one charge is involved," he said.

On drug delivery charges, and some possession charges as well, there is no
probation -- regardless of the accused's prior criminal history or lack of
one. Keathley said that those sentences of five years or less means just
that -- the person convicted is going to serve that time.

That's part of the "teeth."

"There was a certain frustration among law enforcement," he said of the
prevailing mood before the legislation. "As in, what does a sentence mean?"

Addition punishment can include upgrading a charge one level, such as from
a state jail felony (2 years maximum) to a third degree felony (10 years);
third degree to a second degree felony (20 years); and second degree felony
to a first (99 years or life).

And should a person be convicted on two charges, with one of them being a
drug free zone violation, the penalty is especially severe. The drug free
zone charge has to be served first, then the second charge's sentencing begins.

That's known as "stacking" (also known as consecutively) or serving one
after the other. It's more common on multiple charges for those convicted
to serve their sentences "concurrently" or at the same time -- a practice
that let someone getting two, 10-year sentences have the same result as
only one sentence.

Keathley credits area law enforcement officers for their encouragement in
proceeding under the new drug free zone laws after they were clarified and
upheld in court.

"I give them credit, they came to me with the wisdom that they wanted to
use these statutes and I concurred with them," he said. "I believe with the
success we've had with this, we'll be using this more. It's a fine tool in
the prosecution of drug delivery cases, in particular."

He said the enhancement of criminal penalties isn't unfair, it's an example
of sending a message to those who would do wrong about what society wants
to protect.

"We don't want this around our kids," Keathley said. "We don't want them
sitting in a classroom and, through a window, seeing these transactions
going on.

What kind of message does that send to them in their formative years?

"We want them to, hopefully, have an innocent educational and childhood
experience."