Pubdate: Sat, 09 Jul 2005
Source: Berkshire Eagle, The (Pittsfield, MA)
Copyright: 2005 New England Newspapers, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.berkshireeagle.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/897
Author: Ellen G.  Lahr, Berkshire Eagle Staff
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?217 (Drug-Free Zones)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?199 (Mandatory Minimum Sentencing)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?225 (Students - United States)
Related:  http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n779/a04.html

DRUG CASE KEENLY WATCHED

PITTSFIELD -- Jury selection begins Tuesday for the first of 16
defendants facing Superior Court trials in connection with a Great
Barrington drug-dealing sting that has galvanized grass-roots
opposition to District Attorney David A.  Capeless' prosecution tactics.

Kyle Sawin, 18, of Otis is facing three charges of selling marijuana
to an undercover police officer, plus three more serious charges of
selling drugs within 1,000 feet of a school zone.

About seven grams of marijuana allegedly changed hands between Sawin
and an undercover police officer on three occasions in the Taconic
parking lot area off  Main Street.

Defendants championed Sawin is among seven defendants whose cause has
been taken up by Concerned Citizens for Appropriate Justice. The
organization of local parents, business leaders and others has
protested Capeless' strict application of the school-zone  drug laws
on suspects who are accused of selling small quantities of drugs and
who have no prior criminal records.

The school-zone charge, which was lodged against nearly all of the
young people nabbed in the September sting, carries a minimum
mandatory jail term of two years Attorney Judith C. Knight,
representing Sawin, declined to comment on the upcoming case, but said
it will last about two to four days. However, Sawin's case will be
closely watched by the legal community, lawyers said yesterday. They
are defending clients who allegedly did business with a single
undercover police officer, Felix Aguirre, a member of the Pittsfield
Police Department.

Aguirre is said by lawyers to have befriended young people over a
period of months, eventually approaching them in the Taconic parking
lot off Railroad Street, which had become a hot spot for complaints by
local merchants and town officials concerned about drug activity.

"I, for one, plan on attending as much of that trial as possible,"
said attorney Lori Levinson of Pittsfield, who represents one person
accused of  making a single three-gram sale within a school zone.

"I would like to see what Felix Aguirre has to say for himself on the
witness stand, since it will help my client to see how he testifies,"
said Levinson. "It  will be very illuminating."

The Taconic lot, where the investigation unfolded over several months
ending in September, is within 1,000 feet of the Great Barrington
Co-operative Preschool and the Searles/Bryant School complex.

During the summer months, when much of the undercover operation was
taking place, those schools were closed, and in no case were children
being targeted as  buyers for drugs, according to lawyers and the
citizens' group. Concerned Citizens for Appropriate Justice contends
that Capeless has unfairly pursued the school-zone charges against
those with minor charges, but  the group has limited its advocacy to
the defendants with no prior records. The group has lobbied Capeless
to consider each case on an individual basis, rather than apply the
law uniformly to both more serious offenders and less egregious violators.

No backing down

But Capeless has refused to back down, saying that all drug offenses -- 
including minor marijuana sales -- contribute to community drug troubles,
and that his policy is to apply the school-zone charge whenever possible. He
has had support among others in the community, who support his hard-line
approach to cleaning up a problem area.

Lawyers defending the cases have filed a variety of pretrial motions
seeking to dismiss charges or derail aspects of the criminal case, but
with no success. This week, a judge refused one lawyer's motion that
sought access to the personnel records of Aguirre, whom one defendant
claimed was smoking marijuana with suspects and buying beer for them
as a means of cementing a relationship. "Of course, I will be watching
with interest," said one mother whose son's trial is upcoming. "I'm
really just thinking about my  son."
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin