HARSH SENTENCE A MATTER OF LAW

First it was the state Board of Health making law that only the Legislature
should be making. Now the Pardon and Parole Board wants to make law by
commuting the sentence of a convicted drug trafficker. Gov. Keating gave
his consent to the Board of Health's anti-smoking rules. We urge him not to
sign off on the parole board's recommendation. The board voted unanimously
last week to recommend that the governor commute the sentence of a
Kingfisher man serving life without parole for drug trafficking. Some board
members want Larry E. Yarbrough, convicted in 1997, to serve 20 years for
his crime. Others want him out of prison now.

Board members were understandably swayed by the argument that Yarbrough's
sentence was unusually harsh given that he was arrested in 1994 for having
just 28 grams of cocaine in his home. To sentence a man to life in prison
without parole for possession of a controlled substance does indeed sound
harsh.

But ultimately that's a decision for the Legislature, not a state board.
Yarbrough was given the sentence he got because of all the facts
surrounding the case. Under state law, his sentence was automatic because
he was found guilty of drug trafficking with two prior felony offenses
involving controlled and dangerous substances.

In his former hometown, Yarbrough's removal from society has curtailed drug
trafficking, officials say. The man has a documented history of involvement
with drugs.

Society has determined that such offenders should be dealt with in a severe
manner. No-tolerance policies were a response to numerous instances where
offenders were back on the streets selling drugs after prior convictions.

Most inmates in Oklahoma prisons serving life without parole are not there
because they were selling drugs. They are there because they committed
violent crimes.

Perhaps the sentence is inappropriate for the crime that Yarbrough was
convicted of committing. But these two things we know: He cannot deal drugs
on the streets as long as he's in prison, and it's not the job of the
Pardon and Parole Board to decide that a no-tolerance law should be overturned.

A jury was selected to hear the charges against Larry E. Yarbrough. They
found him guilty and applied the sentence provided by law. If the law is
wrong and needs to be changed, so be it. The Legislature is the proper
forum for that to happen.

In the meantime, the parole board's recommendation should be ignored.
Commuting the sentence, particularly to time served, is a slap in the face
of justice and further abuse of the separation of powers provided for in
the state constitution.