TWO STORIES SHOW ABSURDITY OF MANDATORY DRUG SENTENCING

I have no intention of getting into the question of guilt or innocence.
That was for the courts to decide, and the courts have decided.

What's at issue here are the comparative consequences.

The principals in this matter are two young men in their 20s. Race was no
factor in their outcomes, since both are black.

One of them you would never have heard of, though of course he's known to
his family and friends. Kansas City was his hometown. The father of four
small children, he was employed at an auto body shop.

In February 1995, with less than $25 in his pocket, he stepped off the
eastbound train from Los Angeles, carrying a jacket that, by his account,
he'd found abandoned on a seat of the coach.

Federal agents met the train for what they later testified was simply a
random check. One of them singled him out from the dismounting passengers
and asked to examine the jacket. A packet of crack cocaine was found sewn
in the lining.

At his trial in July of that year, his only real defense was his story of
the found jacket -- which jurors disbelieved. He was convicted, and four
months later he stood before a federal judge to hear his penalty under
mandatory sentencing guidelines.

The name of the second young man is better known, at least to Kansas City
fans of the Chiefs professional football team. He was a much-celebrated
kick returner whose salary during the 1999-2000 NFL season was $1.5 million.

He was an exciting player, no doubt about it. The image still is bright in
memory of him kneeling in the end zone after a game-breaking kick return,
offering a prayer of thanks for his athletic gifts.

Last year he admitted that he'd helped finance a drug ring headed by one of
his former teammates, that he gave a different man money to buy cocaine in
Florida and that he had aided in the sale of a stolen SUV.

His criminal activities resulted in his dismissal from the Chiefs squad. In
return for cooperation that led to the convictions of six associates, he
was allowed to plead to one lesser federal charge of transporting the
stolen vehicle across state lines.

His penalty: two months in a federal penitentiary, two months of home
detention, a small fine and restitution for the stolen vehicle.

Cleared by the league to resume his playing career, at last report he was
working out in Florida and hoping to catch on with another NFL team less
picky about drug trafficking and felony car theft.

Compare that with the fate of the auto repairman, convicted of a single
drug offense.

He will be 37 years old when his sentence of 188 months -- 15 years and
eight months -- has been served. Having entered the federal penitentiary a
young man, he will emerge well on in middle age.

There are a couple of lessons to be drawn from these two cases.

One is that if you intend to deal drugs at all, be sure to do it big time,
as part of a conspiracy, so that when the law closes in, you have cronies
you can sacrifice in cutting a deal with prosecutors.

The other is that mandatory drug sentencing guidelines, which deprive
judges of discretion in fitting the penalty to the crime, can produce
outcomes that are absurd on their face.