Pubdate: Tue, 28 Dec 2004
Source: Lexington Herald-Leader (KY)
Copyright: 2004 Lexington Herald-Leader
Contact:  http://www.kentucky.com/mld/heraldleader/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/240
Author: Associated Press
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

PROSECUTORS SAY COURT RULING HURTS METH CASES

LOUISVILLE - Prosecutors say a court ruling has crippled their ability
to punish people who make methamphetamine, an illicit drug that has
become a scourge in many parts of Kentucky.

The ruling by the Kentucky Supreme Court involved Ronald Kotila, who
was found with 288 antihistamine tablets and most other ingredients to
make meth. In reversing his conviction for manufacturing meth, the
court said the law did not apply to him because he did not have a
crucial ingredient in the meth-making recipe -- anhydrous ammonia.

The court ruled in June 2003 that the law creating a charge of
manufacturing meth meant defendants had to have all of "the chemicals
or equipment," not just some of them. The law still allows suspects to
be arrested if they are caught making the drug.

"It has really gutted the ability of law enforcement to prosecute
these cases," Hopkins County Commonwealth's Attorney David Massamore
told The Courier-Journal of Louisville.

After his conviction was reversed, Kotila, who is now 58, pleaded
guilty to possession of a meth precursor and possession of a
controlled substance and was sentenced to eight years in prison. He
has since been released. He could not be reached for comment.

At least a half-dozen other convictions have been reversed by the
Court of Appeals and Supreme Court because of the Kotila ruling,
according to court records.

Prosecutors say that savvy meth manufacturers are exploiting the
ruling by not assembling the ingredients in one location until they
are ready to cook up a batch.

In a case from Logan County in November, the Supreme Court seemed to
raise the standard further still for prosecutors, noting that 10
specific pieces of equipment are required to manufacture meth through
one popular method.

Prosecutors say the Kotila ruling has eliminated the leverage they
once had on so-called "squirrels" -- the runners who gather chemicals
and equipment and bring them back to the manufacturer.

"Before we were catching the squirrels and hammering them, and they
would many times give up the names of the cooks," Massamore said.

Justice William Graves of McCracken County, who sided with the
majority in the Kotila case, has since decided that such a "narrow and
unreasonable interpretation" had a "destructive effect on the
enforcement of drug laws" and did "violence to the concept of common
sense."

But defense lawyers say the law as previously enforced was
unreasonably harsh, given that many defendants to whom it was applied
were addicts. Defense advocates also note that meth is the only drug
in Kentucky for which manufacturing is punished more severely than
trafficking.

Kentucky lawyers and some lawmakers say prosecutors have other
meth-fighting laws in their arsenal, including one enacted in 2002 --
possession of a meth precursor, a felony punishable by up to five
years in prison.

"The commonwealth's attorneys cry because of the Kotila case but they
are still indicting and convicting offenders," said Rep. Gross
Lindsay, D-Henderson.

Kentucky State Police spokesman Capt. Brad Bates said the Kotila
ruling has made life more difficult for police, but "the bad guys
aren't getting away."

Gail Cook, Calloway County's top prosecutor and president of the
Kentucky Commonwealth's Attorneys Association, said prosecutors have
found alternatives, such as charging defendants, if there are two or
more, with conspiring to manufacture meth.

Cook said the commonwealth's attorneys' association has drafted a
proposed bill that would define manufacture as possessing two
ingredients with the intent to make the drug.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin