Pubdate: Wed, 14 Mar 2001
Source: Herald, The (WA)
Copyright: 2001 The Daily Herald Co.
Contact:  P.O. Box 930, Everett, WA   98206-0930
Fax: (425) 339-3435
Website: http://www.heraldnet.com/
Author: Scott North, Herald Writer
Related: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n431/a03.html ,
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n413/a02.html

SHERIFF'S BROTHER TO SERVE JAIL TIME

Three-Year Sentence Given On Charges Of Drug Trafficking

The brother of Snohomish County Sheriff Rick Bart will serve about a 
year longer behind bars than originally thought after an appeals 
court ruled he is ineligible for a reduced sentence on 
drug-trafficking charges.

Ronald Bart, 47, was sentenced to three years in prison Tuesday 
during a brief hearing before Superior Court Judge Gerald Knight.

The hearing was necessary in the wake of a state Appeals Court 
decision late last year that barred Bart and other defendants around 
the state from benefiting from a sentencing option that focused less 
on punishment and more on treatment.

Knight in February 2000 had sentenced Bart under the Drug Offender 
Sentencing Alternative. Approved by state lawmakers in 1999, the law 
allows people convicted of nonviolent drug offenses involving small 
amounts of drugs to receive shorter than usual prison terms and 
mandatory treatment.

A problem arose because Bart and others received the sentence even 
though their crimes occurred before the law went into effect.

Bart was arrested in July 1999 after he offered to act as the 
middleman in a cocaine deal. The deal was broken up by an undercover 
detective assigned to the Snohomish Regional Narcotics Task Force. He 
pleaded guilty to cocaine delivery, and under state sentencing 
guidelines faced up to four years behind bars.

Deputy prosecutor John Adcock had recommended earlier that Bart 
receive a three-year sentence. He stuck to that recommendation 
Tuesday.

Knight told Bart there were no legal grounds for him to depart from a 
standard-range sentence. The judge said he was pleased, however, that 
the defendant appeared to have been taking advantage of 
drug-treatment programs that were made available to him under the 
original sentence.

Bart thanked the judge.

"Prison has been tough, but I've been OK," he said. "I just don't 
want to put myself in this situation again."

In addition to his drug conviction, Ronald Bart had served time for 
theft in King County.

Sheriff Rick Bart was not in the courtroom Tuesday. He had no 
comment, spokeswoman Jan Jorgensen said.

When his brother was first charged, Rick Bart released a prepared 
statement praising detectives for their work and suggesting that his 
brother's legal troubles "should serve as an example of how illegal 
drugs affect us all. Nobody is immune from their devastation."
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MAP posted-by: Josh Sutcliffe