Pubdate: Thu, 20 Jan 2005
Source: Buffalo News (NY)
Copyright: 2005 The Buffalo News
Contact:  http://www.buffalonews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/61
Author: Dan Herbeck, News Staff Reporter
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mdma.htm (Ecstasy)

THANKS TO HIGH COURT, DRUG DEFENDANT GETS 2ND CHANCE

Young Woman Struggling to Turn Life Around Benefits As Judge Uses
Recently Granted Discretion on Sentencing

U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara gave a huge break Wednesday to a
21-year-old drug defendant from Youngstown.

It almost certainly could not have happened before last week's
landmark Supreme Court decision giving federal judges freedom from
sentencing guidelines.

Jamie Lynn Chilberg, a college student who joined a drug treatment
program and turned her life around after a September 2003 smuggling
arrest, is among the first people in the nation to benefit from the
Supreme Court's Jan. 12 ruling.

Instead of the two-year minimum sentence the guidelines suggested,
Arcara sentenced Chilberg to "time spent" - the one day she already
served in jail after the arrest. She will also spend three years on
supervised release and will be required to speak at local high schools
three times each year.

"For the life of me, I can't see how any period of incarceration could
benefit this young woman," Arcara said. "In many ways, I find what she
has done to be remarkable."

Arcara noted that before the Supreme Court decision, he would have
been mandated to send Chilberg to prison for 24 to 30 months.

Smiling and wiping away tears, Chilberg left the courtroom thanking
Arcara and the Supreme Court for giving her a second chance.

"I think this decision could benefit a lot of people in my situation,
all over the country," she said. "It gave the judge an opportunity to
consider other alternatives to putting me in prison for two years."

In a long-awaited decision, the nation's highest court ruled last week
that judges are no longer required to follow sentencing guidelines
when determining the punishment for people convicted in federal court.
The guidelines are now to be viewed in an advisory role only.

Chilberg was 19 on Sept. 18, 2003, when Department of Homeland
Security inspectors at the Rainbow Bridge in Niagara Falls found 954
MDMA pills - better known as Ecstasy - in her car.

Chilberg, then a heavy user of alcohol, cocaine and other drugs, was
acting as a "mule," delivering the Ecstasy for drug traffickers,
defense attorney Herbert L. Greenman said. Defense attorneys have
complained for years that federal sentencing guidelines were too harsh
on people who were caught delivering drugs.

Under a plea deal reached last year, Chilberg was required to
cooperate in a continuing investigation. Greenman said she has also
obtained a full-time waitressing job and has worked hard in studies at
Niagara County Community College. She also stopped using drugs and
entered a voluntary drug treatment program, he said.

"She's never blamed anyone but herself for what happened, and she's
determined to put drugs behind her," Greenman said.

Despite catching a break from the judge, Chilberg now has a felony
conviction on her record for importing drugs from Canada.

Chilberg sobbed as she told Arcara of the pain that her legal
difficulties and drug problems caused for her family. Outside the
courtroom, she told a reporter that she hopes to get a four-year
college degree and go into business or law.

"I was wrong," she said. "I'm trying to be the best person I can be."
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake