Pubdate: Sat, 13 Apr 2002
Source: Birmingham News, The (AL)
Copyright: 2002 The Birmingham News
Contact:  http://www.al.com/birminghamnews/today/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/45
Author: Stan Bailey

COURT BACKS NEW DRUG CASE EDICT

MONTGOMERY - A Birmingham woman sentenced to life without parole for the 
sale of 3.5 ounces of a liquid morphine mixture to an undercover police 
officer will be resentenced as a result of a decision Friday by the Alabama 
Supreme Court.

The justices decided without comment to let stand a state Court of Criminal 
Appeals ruling, which held that the state's "Drug Barons" law is 
unconstitutional and inflicts cruel and unusual punishment as it was 
applied to the woman, Theresa Wilson.

The Drug Barons law bases sentencing on the amount of drugs involved rather 
than the number of offenses of the defendant. This was Wilson's only drug 
conviction.

"This is an outstanding decision," said Bill Bowen, who along with his law 
partner, Mark White, represented Wilson without charge.

Wilson, who is serving time at Tutwiler Prison for Women on her first drug 
offense, was addicted to prescription drugs and was arrested after she sold 
drugs that had been prescribed for a neighbor in East Lake who died of cancer.

"Theresa Wilson received this life without parole sentence because she was 
poor and addicted to drugs," White said Friday. "If she had been rich, 
powerful or important, she would have received treatment for her problem 
rather than the unprecedented punishment she received."

White said the 1986 law was aimed at real drug barons, who routinely are 
allowed to cut plea bargains with prosecutors for dramatically reduced 
sentences.

Bowen said Friday's decision means Wilson will come before Jefferson County 
Circuit Judge Tommy Nail for resentencing. She was sentenced in the 
original case in 1998.
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