Pubdate: Thu, 24 Jan 2013
Source: Houston Chronicle (TX)
Copyright: 2013 Houston Chronicle Publishing Company Division, Hearst Newspaper
Contact:  http://www.chron.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/198
Author: Brian Rogers

DA ANDERSON REVERSES "TRACE CASE" POLICY

Newly elected Harris County District Attorney Mike Anderson said
Thursday he will prosecute as felonies drug cases that involve trace
amounts of crack cocaine, reversing his predecessor's stand on the
so-called "trace cases."

"If there is enough evidence to test in a lab, then we'll take the
charges," Anderson said.

Anderson campaigned on the issue last year after then District
Attorney Pat Lykos implemented a policy that treated cases with drug
residue of less than 1/100th of a gram as a misdemeanor.

Lykos said her policy ensured that crimes prosecuted as state jail
felonies had enough of the illegal drug so an independent lab could
test it on behalf of the defendant.

She said it was more fair and noted that it reduced the population in
the county's overcrowded jail system.

The policy angered police officers in Harris County who could no
longer file felony charges against crack-cocaine users caught with
crack pipes and other paraphernalia that had only drug residue.

Anderson said Lykos was ignoring the law. He was endorsed by several
of Houston's police unions days after announcing his run in December
2011.

Police union approves

The change was applauded by law enforcement and criticized by one
court official on Thursday.

"They are felons, the state has said they are felons and they need to
be prosecuted as such," said Ray Hunt, president of the Houston Police
Officers' Union. "These persons, these crackheads are the people who
are breaking in to motor vehicles to steal your laptop off the front
seat, to grab the purse that's visible, all those things they can sell
for $25 to go buy another crack rock."

He noted that state law is clear and said Lykos ignored it with her
policy.

"If the legislators want to make this not a felony, then they can,"
Hunt said. "But to say this is a felony and then have a district
attorney say they're not going to enforce state law is not the way
elected officials are supposed to act."

Harris County's most senior criminal felony judge, Michael McSpadden,
disagreed with Anderson's change.

"I wish he would use his discretion to relieve the great number of
cases that I don't think are proper in felony court," McSpadden said.
"But I understand that the correct way is to address the
Legislature."

McSpadden, who has been a judge for 31 years, has lobbied legislators
to reduce the law from a state jail felony to a misdemeanor.

Before each session, including the current one, McSpadden wrote a
letter to every legislator from Houston to consider changing the law.

This year, he said, several legislators have contacted him, and he
hopes to soon see the law changed for the entire state.

"I don't want someone saddled with a felony conviction for truly a
residue amount. It will change their life forever - for getting a job,
for going to school," McSpadden said. "It's just not fair."

Probation, treatment

Anderson said he hopes many of the cases charged as felonies will
result in probation and possibly be dismissed if the suspect gets
treatment for his addiction.

"In many of these cases, treatment is the right way to go," Anderson
said. "So we'll certainly evaluate them on a case-by-case basis."

Anderson, who was a felony judge for 12 years, also worked as a drug
court judge.

Facing jail time for a felony charge may be impetus enough for an
addict to get help and stay clean, he said. Also, he pointed out, jail
time can be a powerful motivator for drug users to help police catch
drug dealers. 
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