Pubdate: Thu, 02 May 2002
Source: Birmingham News, The (AL)
Copyright: 2002 The Birmingham News
Contact:  http://www.al.com/birminghamnews/today/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/45
Author: Carol Robinson

SENTENCED TO LIFE WITHOUT PAROLE FOR A FIRST-TIME DRUG OFFENSE, A MOTHER OF 
TWO MAKES PLEA FOR AND IS GRANTED MERCY

Convicted "drug baron" Theresa Wilson walked out of a courtroom Wednesday 
with her freedom and a stern warning.

"You've gotten a second chance," said Jefferson County Circuit Judge Tommy 
Nail. "Don't blow it."

Wilson, once sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole 
for a first-time drug offense, cried and threw her cuffed hands around her 
husband's neck when the judge freed her.

"I feel like a million dollars," beamed the 34-year-old mother of two teens.

Wilson became a symbol for reason in sentencing after she was convicted in 
1998 of selling a morphine mixture to an undercover officer and was 
sentenced to a life behind bars.

State law mandated the life sentence because the mixture, a prescription 
drug, weighed more than 56 grams. The drug had belonged to her neighbor and 
she said she was selling it to help pay a power bill. She offered it to the 
officer for $150, only later finding out it was worth $10,000.

Alabama's Court of Criminal Appeals ruled that in Wilson's case, the 
sentence was cruel and unusual punishment and ordered a new sentencing hearing.

Asked if she had anything to say before sentencing, Wilson said, "May God 
have mercy on me."

Nail reduced her sentence to time already served which has been five years 
and three years probation. The judge told her to thank lawyers Mark White 
and Bill Bowen, who represented her on appeal for free.

"You're a very lucky woman to have such dedicated lawyers take this case on 
a non-paying basis," Nail said.

White and Bowen included in the argument for Wilson's release Alabama 
statistics that show the average sentence for a first-time offender for a 
drug sale was 8.37 years. The average time served was 2.69 years. Wilson 
was the only person without a prior felony conviction who was serving a 
life without parole sentence in the Alabama prison system for a non-capital 
offense.

The "Drug Baron Enforcement Act of 1986" remains on the books. In Wilson's 
case, it was deemed an unconstitutional application of the law. "It could 
happen to someone else tomorrow," White said.

Wilson, a recovering drug addict, left the county jail flanked by her 
husband, James, her two children, Jimmy and Jessica, and a dozen people 
from her Fultondale church who had packed the courtroom.

"She's got a lot of people who didn't give up on her. I go to court a lot 
of times and I look behind me and there's nobody there," White said. "It's 
going to be a tough transition. But getting the chance is the main thing."

Wilson said she will focus on her husband and children. Her husband is also 
a former addict and now a minister.

"We've been separated for a long time and now we're both clean so it's 
going to be different," James Wilson said. "I'm looking forward to walking 
in the park, studying together, and going on family vacations."

Their 16-year-old son said he looks forward to talking to her about things 
only a mom understands girls mostly. Their daughter, 14, is already 
planning a shopping trip.

"Most people don't know what it's like to not have a mom," she said.
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