ASHCROFT POLICY WON'T CHANGE STATE OFFICE, U.S. ATTORNEY SAYS

U.S. Attorney Kasey Warner said Tuesday that new guidelines by Attorney General
John D. Ashcroft on how federal prosecutors should pursue criminal charges and
sentences will not change how his office pursues cases.

The new policy requires federal prosecutors to charge defendants with the most
serious offenses they can prove, and to fight attempts by defense attorneys and
judges to sentence a defendant to less prison time than recommended by
congressional guidelines.

Warner said he already follows those rules and that Ashcroft's new rules are
simply designed to clarify U.S. Justice Department policy.

"I read it through twice today, and there is no change whatsoever in what I
would do," Warner said. "This is just a way of putting it out on paper so we're
all on the same piece of music."

Ashcroft said the new guidelines would make prosecutors more consistent across
the country, ensuring that defendants in one area are not treated differently
than defendants in another.

Critics have charged that the new rules allow federal prosecutors less
flexibility and will make the system unfair.

Warner pointed to a list of exceptions he said would allow him the same
discretion he has now. For example, if after an indictment, prosecutors decide
they don't have enough evidence to pursue the harshest charge in a drug case, a
lesser charge can be pursued.

"Every commandment that's put out, I can override, because I'm the U.S.
Attorney," Warner said.

Rebecca Betts, Warner's predecessor as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District
of West Virginia, said the guidelines are clearly meant to clamp down on
federal prosecutors' flexibility but that might not be the effect, given all of
the exceptions.

Federal prosecutors probably still will be able to pursue cases however they
please, said Betts, who served from 1994-2001 and is now a Charleston attorney.

She said deciding what charges to seek in criminal cases is complex and often
depends on how zealous individual prosecutors and investigators are.

For example, Betts said white-collar crime often is prosecuted differently and
can result in widely varying sentences.

Often it involves money laundering, which carries a stiffer penalty than simple
fraud, but some investigators don't dig hard enough to find money laundering,
resulting in a lesser sentence, she said.

Flexibility is warranted in many cases where heavy resources are put into a
case, she added. For example, more effort is needed to pursue white-collar
crime than a drug case, so prosecutors might be more willing to plea bargain
rather than risk losing in a jury trial.

Parts of the new rules requiring U.S. attorneys or Justice Department officials
in Washington to sign off when prosecutors don't seek charges or sentencing the
way Ashcroft wants could be cumbersome in such cases, Betts said.

"You cannot fit these kind of decisions in a box, in a neat set of rules," she
said.