ARK. COMMITTEE OK'S BILL TO SHORTEN SENTENCES FOR METH TRAFFICKING BY

LITTLE ROCK (AP) -- A state senator who has led the legislative crackdown
on methamphetamine won a committee endorsement Thursday of a bill that
would shorten the sentences of some convicts doing time for meth trafficking.

Sen. Jack Critcher (D-Grubbs) said he offered his bill to pre-empt other
legislation that might do more to weaken sentencing laws requiring convicts
to do 70 percent of their time.

"It's an effective tool for the prosecutors. They've got to have it, and I
don't want to see 70 percent repealed," Critcher said. "But if this is not
passed, then something stronger is going to be passed to make it
retroactive or repeal it altogether, and I don't want that to happen."

A bill by Rep. Sam Ledbetter (D-Little Rock) would repeal the 70 percent law.

Critcher's bill, approved by the Senate Committee on State Agencies and
Governmental Affairs, would grant meritorious "good time" to meth offenders
convicted on or after July 1, effectively cutting a sentence under the 70
percent law in half to 35 percent of their sentence.

The panel also approved another Critcher bill that would grant inmates
another 90 days a year in good time for not pretending to be sick.

Both bills passed on voice votes and went to the Senate floor. However,
there was some confusion after the panel swiftly approved the bill
affecting meth offenders without discussion or testimony. Prosecutors in
the room complained when they did not get a chance to speak, and the
committee chairman, Sen. Steve Faris (D-Malvern), said he would ask
Critcher to send the bill back to committee for discussion. Critcher said
he would oblige.

Bob Balfe, the Benton County prosecutor, said after the meeting that
prosecutors opposed both measures.

Balfe said inmates get at least six months off every year of their
sentence, which he said was incentive enough for not abusing sick call.

On the other bill, Balfe noted that only 18 of the more than 1,500 meth
offenders sentenced in Benton County since the 70 percent law went into
effect in 1997 went to prison under the provision.

"These are the worst of the worst, the people who are producing the
methamphetamine that gets everyone addicted in our communities," he said.

Larry Norris, director of the state Department of Correction, said even
with good time taken off, a meth offender sentenced to 10 years under the
70 percent law still would end up serving twice as much time as other convicts.

Most convicts actually serve about one-third of their terms, or about 40
months of a 10-year sentence. With good time stripping half of that, the
term would be reduced to 20 months.