Pubdate: Mon, 02 Oct 2000
Source: Baltimore Sun (MD)
Copyright: 2000 The Baltimore Sun, a Times Mirror Newspaper.
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Author: Peter Hermann

LAW OPENS DRUG SELLERS TO CIVIL SUITS

Convicted dealers can be held liable for related deaths; 'We take tiny
steps'; Defense lawyers say proving connections would be difficult

Families left grieving over the drug-related deaths of their loved ones have
a new way to fight back: They can sue the drug dealers who supplied the
dope.

The Drug Dealer Liability Act, passed by the Maryland General Assembly and
signed into law this year, took effect yesterday. Under the law, people
convicted of selling or distributing drugs can be held civilly liable for
deaths connected to the narcotics.

"I'm sure it's not going to be a gargantuan sea change in what's going on
with drug dealing," said Del. Pauline H. Menes, a Prince George's County
Democrat who co-sponsored the legislation. "Here's one thing to give the
drug dealers something to worry about and give us something to go after."

But defense lawyers dismissed the significance of the law, saying it would
be difficult to find the assets of dealers, who often have developed
elaborate schemes for hiding their money.

"You'll get an empty judgment," said Warren A. Brown, a Baltimore lawyer who
represents many low-level dealers and drug addicts. "It joins the list of
ridiculous means of going after this drug problem."

Eleven other states, including Florida, Michigan and Utah, allow similar
suits. The idea for the laws grew out of publicity from the 1995 suicide of
the son of actor Carroll O'Connor, Hugh O'Connor, who took his life in
California while trying to fight off drug addiction.

Carroll O'Connor blamed a drug dealer who was convicted of supplying cocaine
to his son; he labeled the man "a partner in murder" on national television.

The man - who admitted sharing cocaine with Hugh but not to selling him
anything - lost a slander suit against the actor.

The most successful application came this year in Michigan, where Wayne
County sued two drug dealers for supplying narcotics to a woman who was high
on drugs when she crushed her infant's skull with a shoe.

The county won a $9 million judgment against the dealers but collected only
$11,000. The proceeds went to the young victim's siblings.

Defense lawyers said it would be easy to win in court because most drug
dealers won't stand a chance in front of a jury.

But they said proving which dealer supplied the killer drugs and then
collecting money would be more difficult.

"You ain't going to find deep pockets," said William C. Brennan Jr., a
Prince George's County defense lawyer who represented Anthony Ayeni Jones,
the leader of one of the most notorious narcotics organizations in Baltimore
history, now serving a life sentence in federal prison.

"This is a feel-good law," he said. "They pass these things to make it look
like they are doing something about drugs, and they accomplish nothing."

Federal prosecutors alleged that Jones ran a $30,000-a-day drug
organization, but Brennan noted that the money, if there is any, has not
been located.

"The government has been looking for it, and they haven't found it," he
said.

Menes said Maryland's law is narrow in scope and limits damages to cases
involving deaths that could be linked to a person's drug use.

The delegate said the law could be interpreted by the courts to include
cases in which drug addicts die of overdoses and cases dealing with victims
of drug-related violence, such as families of those killed in disputes over
narcotics.

On average, more than 300 people die of drug overdoses each year in
Baltimore, and a similar number are killed, many of them in drug-related
violence.

Menes said drug dealers are finding innovative ways of hiding their money to
avoid seizure under drug forfeiture laws and that this law could help fill
the gaps.

"We take tiny steps," she said.
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