SOMETIMES, STATE CHARGES CAN BE A WAKE-UP CALL

A drug arrest doesn't automatically mean federal agents will be
swooping down with indictments.

For the lucky ones who are caught in possession of drug amounts too
small to attract federal attention, state charges can serve as a
well-timed wake-up call.

First-timers rarely go to jail under the state system, and treatment
is usually part of the deal. In fact, according to Yellowstone County
Attorney Dennis Paxinos, small-time users can usually dodge prison for
the first two or three arrests. By then, however, federal prosecutors
will probably be taking an interest.

"We will deal with hundreds of first-time offenders, even second-time
offenders," he said. "But by third or fourth offense, or if a gun or
violence is involved, that's when the feds step in."

The county attorney said a first offense on state drug charges usually
results in a deferred sentence that can be erased from a criminal
record, if the defendant stays clean. The second sentence is
suspended, but remains on a criminal record. A third conviction will
throw a defendant into an intensive supervision program.

In Paxinos' view, treatment is cheaper than incarceration and helps
attack the root of many defendants' problems with the law - addiction.

"We can't build our way out of this with more prisons," he said.
"We're trying to work with first-time offenders to handle them on a
state basis, not a federal basis."

Drugs fuel the crime rate in Yellowstone County, according to the
county's chief prosecutor. Paxinos said that five years ago he had 350
felony cases on his desk. Now there are more than 1,000.

"You can almost point the finger at methamphetamine," he said. "The
crime rate reflects what people will do to get it. We're seeing this
insidious example of crime begetting crime."

Much of the time, it's the weight of the drug involved that determines
whether the case goes federal or state, he said. But drug investigator
recommendations also play a significant role.

"If it's a better deal to remove someone from the streets of Billings,
that's what they'll do," Paxinos said.

State court charges are a carrot that federal prosecutors can dangle
in front of low-level traffickers as incentive to cooperate against
others higher up the chain, he said.

Paxinos thinks the mandatory minimums have been useful in getting some
of the city's most potentially dangerous residents out of circulation
for long periods. Those in that category include violent offenders and
people willing to use guns to get drugs.

"These are people who are so far down the cesspool they need to be
removed," he said.

Paxinos referred to a notorious bunch in the mid-1990s who engaged in
drug deals and gun feuds that eventually resulted in the killing of a
woman caught in the crossfire.

"The federal sentencing guidelines were able to take some of these
people and remove them from society for at least 15 years," he said.
"In Montana, to have that kind of time you have to have a sentence of
100 years. That kind of sentence is reserved for murderers."

Interestingly, Randy Keyes, the man who fired the gun that killed
Jacine Chapel, ended up serving less than two years in jail and about
four years under house arrest on a state charge of criminal
endangerment. His target, Dean LaFromboise, who was giving Chapel a
ride home, got 30 years on federal drug charges.

Keyes, who says God has changed his life, plans to take up the
ministry. LaFromboise is serving his sentences at a federal prison in
California.

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SERIES INDEX:

Hard Time http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03.n262.a04.html

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