MONTANA PROJECT TELLS STUDENTS ABOUT DRUG PENALITES

If you're doing dope, there's got to be at least one other person who
knows -- your dealer.

That's what Tony Gallagher, Montana's chief federal defender, tells
high school students when he talks to them as part of the Montana Project.

"If they get caught, and their attorney says they've got to give
people up, who's he going to give up?" the veteran defense attorney
asks. "He's going to give you up."

Montana's chief federal district judge, Don Molloy of Missoula,
initiated the Montana Project in Helena last spring to introduce
teenagers to the perils of federal drug penalties. If it hadn't been
for a teachers' strike, the project would have been launched in
government classes at Billings Senior last November by U.S. District
Judge Richard Cebull. The program been rescheduled for March in Billings.

In Helena, Molloy recruited U.S. probation officers to talk to high
school classes about federal sentencing and proper court etiquette.
Then the students were bused to a courtroom to watch real
shackle-bound defendants receive sentences in drug cases. Some of the
defendants were only a few years older than the students.

When the sentencing concluded, the judge asked Gallagher and U.S.
Attorney Bill Mercer to talk to the students about what they had just
witnessed.

That's when Gallagher, who defends dozens of drug cases each year,
told the students how vulnerable even the lowest dealer on the rung
can be.

If naming names is the only way out of a steep federal sentence, your
dealer's first concern isn't maintaining customer confidentiality, he
said.

"Even if you're only doing a little marijuana or meth, some police
officer somewhere knows who you are," Gallagher told the students.
"Because some police officer somewhere has arrested your dealer, and
he's named names, or told them what you look like or what your address
is."

Most people just doing a little dope think they are pretty anonymous,
Gallagher said. The kids are shocked when someone tells them that the
police are probably already watching.

Like the judges, Gallagher believes that the clients whom he defends
have no concept of what they are in for in the federal system. He
tells them that under the law, a person who just drives a buddy to
pick up marijuana becomes part of the conspiracy and could be charged.

"Even if they don't indict you, they can take your car," he
said.

As for guns, they just have to be in close proximity to the drug stash
to produce a five-year minimum mandatory sentence.

"It's really pretty simple to prove, and gun charges can't be
dismissed as part of the plea negotiations," he explains.

Molloy said the purpose of the Montana Project is strictly
informational. The students can do with it what they will.

Judges, prosecutors, defenders and probation officers are trying other
methods of getting the word out about federal drug laws, he said. They
are talking to civic groups and taking some junior high students step
by step through the trial process.

He wants the public to know so that if they, or someone they love,
ever lands in front of him on a drug charge, no one will be shocked at
what has to happen.

"My biggest frustration, is when the family comes into court and tells
me this is a good kid; it's his first offense," Molloy said. "Yeah,
but he had over 500 grams of methamphetamine. That's 10 years --
mandatory."

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SERIES INDEX:

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No 2nd Chances With Drug Crimes http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03.n250.a11.html

It's The Law http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03.n258.a02.html

Prison Means Marking Time for Family, Too http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03.n263.a05.html

Paying the Price http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03.n265.a04.html

Partners in Crime http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03.n270.a03.html

Some Caught in Conspiracy Talk to Avoid Long Sentences http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03.n271.a02.html

Montana Project Tells Students About Drug Penalites http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03.n277.a02.html

Sometimes, State Charges Can Be a Wake-Up Call http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03.n277.a03.html

Editorial: U.S. Law Snares State Drug Dealers http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03.n277.a04.html