OFFICIALS QUESTION EXILE'S EFFECTS

Remember the slogan: "An illegal gun gets you five years in federal
prison?" Well, maybe, not necessarily.

Of the 1,500 bills put before Gov. Mark Warner by the General Assembly, one
could weaken the highly touted, crime-curbing program Project Exile - a
collaborative effort among local, state and federal authorities to get guns
and criminals off the streets - and ease penalties for drug- and
gun-possession crimes.

The proposed bill, HB 2181, introduced by Delegate Kenneth R. Melvin,
D-Portsmouth, eliminates the mandatory minimum for some offenses that
involve drugs and guns and, in more serious ones, reduces the mandatory
minimum from five years to two. It doesn't pull the rug out from Project
Exile exactly, but it surely sends it teetering.

Melvin says the reason he's pushing for a revision is simple. Young people
with no criminal records increasingly are the ones struck down by Exile's grip.

Melvin, a criminal lawyer, says he regularly sees judges stuck in a
position of having to give first-time offenders a five-year sentence in
federal prison. "This simply gives judges more discretion," he says.

Melvin's proposed bill would make only the possession of a firearm along
with drug distribution subject to the five-year minimum mandatory sentence.
The redefined law also could result in housing fewer offenders in state
correctional facilities.

Warner had not acted on the bill by press time. A spokesman for the
governor's office disputes news reports that Warner would sign the bill as
it stands, saying further review was necessary. But, he notes, word has
reached the governor's office that a number of state officials are
"agitated over this" and have recommended that Warner veto the bill.
Warner's decision was due by midnight, March 24.

Richmond's Commonwealth's Attorney David Hicks says he will wait to see
what Warner does with the bill before he weighs in. Still, he says, it may
be time to reexamine Exile's effectiveness. Since it began six years ago,
the number of defendants indicted under Exile has steadily decreased from
254 in 1997 to 87 in 2002. Hicks says a reason could be that the "quality
of cases" has dropped, meaning the "serious bad guys" initially targeted by
Exile have given way to kids caught with "crack-pipe residue and a gun in
the trunk." - Brandon Walters