Pubdate: Sun, 30 Jul 2000 Source: Lubbock Avalanche-Journal (TX) Copyright: 2000 The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal Contact: http://www.lubbockonline.com/interactive/edit.shtml Website: http://www.lubbockonline.com/ Forum: http://chat.lubbockonline.com:90/eshare/ NEW MEXICO DEFENSE ATTORNEY ADVOCATES LESSER DRUG PENALTIES SANTA FE (AP) A defense lawyer suggests New Mexico could reduce crowding in its prisons, save money and cut crime by lowering the penalties for drug possession and emphasizing treatment for addicts. "I am here today because I am appalled by the number of individuals being sentenced to prison for possession of drugs and low-level trafficking," Jacqueline Cooper, an Albuquerque public defender, told the interim legislative Courts and Criminal Justice Committee on Friday. "We need to treat drug offenders for what they are. They are addicts ... they are mentally ill people with substance-abuse problems," she said. She proposed reducing first and second drug-possession charges to misdemeanors with mandatory treatment as a condition of probation. Current law considers possession of drugs, even trace amounts, fourth-degree felonies. Cooper also proposed setting penalties according to the amount of drugs being given away or sold. "The vast majority of the trafficking cases are for one-rock (crack) sales to undercover police officers, and these people are drug addicts," she said. "People who sell one rock of crack cocaine are not the same as people selling 1 kilo of cocaine. They should not be treated the same," Cooper said. Dealers caught twice selling small amounts of crack now face a mandatory 18-year sentence, about the same as for raping a child, and three years more than a conviction of second-degree murder carries, Cooper said. But Rep. Joe Mohorovic, R-Albuquerque, said reducing penalties for low-level drug deals is moving in the wrong direction. Mohorovic, who coaches football, said his 13-year-old players often are approached after practice by gang members trying to entice recruits by giving away crack cocaine. "This proposal will curtail law enforcement's ability to crack down on gang recruitment," he said. "Those gang recruiters, they don't need drug treatment. They don't need counseling. They need to go to jail." William Parnall, president of the New Mexico Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, turned the argument around. A 13-year-old football player who accepts that crack should receive drug counseling and not be saddled with a fourth-degree felony, Parnall said. "A football player with a crack problem should have a different penalty than the one who is providing the stuff, who really is trafficking," Parnall said. Rep. R. David Pederson, D-Gallup, said it "doesn't seem to make a lot of sense" that penalties for possession of illegal drugs, other than marijuana, do not differentiate between amounts. According to Cooper's statistics, about 20 percent of prison admissions in New Mexico in 1996 and 1997 were for drug offenses. The legislative committee is expected to further consider the proposal, and whether to support it during next year's legislative session, in November. Of 1,377 people sent to prison in fiscal year 1997, 286 were convicted of breaking drug laws 94 percent of them convicted of possession only. Cooper said it will cost an estimated $26 million to keep those 286 drug offenders from 1997 jailed for the length of their sentences. Making first- and second-possession charges misdemeanors would keep offenders from being "stripped of their constitutional rights," including the right to vote, bear arms and serve in the military, for substance-abuse problems, Cooper said. Because misdemeanor cases move more quickly through the courts, offenders could promptly be put into treatment, rather than returned to the streets to continue using drugs and committing crimes while awaiting trial, she said. The state District Attorneys Association plans to draft a response to Cooper's proposal, said District Attorney Henry Valdez of Santa Fe. He said one concern is that drug dealers will adjust to take advantage of misdemeanor penalties for low-quantity sales. "If you set it at a fifth of a gram, that's what people are going to sell," Valdez said. - --- MAP posted-by: Doc-Hawk