CURIOUS SENTENCING

Lee judge sending wrong message as state addresses drug problems

Some gubernatorial hopefuls and virtually every candidate for state attorney
general have made fighting drug abuse a major plank in their platforms this
year.

Their proposed solutions run the gamut, from more drug courts and treatment
facilities to tougher sentences and tougher regulation of health
professionals. The ideas include creation of a Kentucky Bureau of
Investigation to concentrate on drug crimes and a "drug squad" of assistant
attorney generals who specialize in prosecuting drug cases.

Meanwhile, Republican U.S. Rep Hal Rogers obtained $8 million in federal
money to fund Operation UNITE (Unlawful Narcotics Investigation Treatment
and Education) in his 5th District, which includes many of the Eastern
Kentucky counties that the Herald-Leader's "Prescription for Pain" series
identified as being hooked on prescription drugs.

It would have been nice if Rogers had worked with other members of the
state's congressional delegation to develop a statewide approach, one that
would have addressed Western Kentucky's methamphetamine labs, the
ever-present urban drug problems and the northeastern Kentucky counties
outside the 5th District that have been home to some of the state's more
notorious pill-peddling operations. But an $8 million program in the 5th
District is better than no program at all.

On the legal front, three Eastern Kentucky doctors have been convicted in
drug cases in recent months. The trial of a fourth is under way.

All in all, these are encouraging signs of a positive public response to
what can only be described as an epidemic of drug abuse in the state, an
epidemic that has portions of Eastern Kentucky leading the nation in per
capita consumption of prescription painkillers.

It is this widespread acknowledgement of the seriousness of Kentucky's drug
habit that makes recent actions of Lee Circuit Judge William W. Trude Jr. so
puzzling.

More than a year ago, Beattyville police conducted an undercover operation
that resulted in the arrest of 49 people on drug charges. Now, those cases
are working their way through the courts.

As staff writer Bill Estep reported in last Sunday's Herald-Leader, 15 of
those cases have been settled by plea bargains and sentencing. In seven of
those cases, Trude reduced the sentences the defendants agreed to accept as
part of their plea bargains.

In one case, the sentence was reduced from 12 years to five. In another, a
five-year sentence became shock probation. Two other defendants also
received probation instead of the one-year sentences they had agreed to
serve.

Yes, Trude has the right as a judge to do exactly what he did. But if his
actions aren't unprecedented, they are at least unusual.

And you have to wonder why, if he didn't like the plea agreements, he didn't
reject them and tell prosecutors and defendants to negotiate new ones
instead of taking unilateral action himself -- a course that can only
undermine the ability of prosecutors to negotiate future plea agreements.

More important, you have to wonder if Trude's leniency in these cases sends
the wrong message in a county that has seen two former sheriffs and a local
police chief convicted on drug charges in recent years and that now has a
drug problem sufficient to lead to 49 arrests.

The magnitude of Eastern Kentucky's addiction to prescription narcotics is
too great for judges, including Trude, prosecutors and other law enforcement
officials to even give the appearance of taking drug crimes lightly.

Those who do should be held accountable by the region's voters.