Pubdate: Wed, 20 Jul 2005
Source: Berkshire Eagle, The (Pittsfield, MA)
Contact:  2005 New England Newspapers, Inc.
Website: http://www.berkshireeagle.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/897
Author: Ellen G. Lahr,  Berkshire Eagle Staff
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?199 (Mandatory Minimum Sentencing)

FRIENDS TESTIFY AGAINST SAWIN

PITTSFIELD -- Hoping to have their own school-zone drug charges dropped in 
exchange for testimony against Kyle W. Sawin, two of his friends took the 
witness stand in Superior Court yesterday to say that Sawin was a key 
drug  dealer in Great Barrington last year.

The testimony of John Rybacki, 18, and Justin Cronin, 19, both former 
classmates of Sawin at Monument Mountain High School, testified that they 
bought marijuana at various times from Sawin in the high school parking 
lot, at the Price Chopper parking lot, at the Cumberland Farms store, 
Friendly's, Kmart, or at Lake Mansfield.

'Nagging' from officer The testimony of Rybacki and Cronin was damaging to 
Sawin, and was elicited to rebut his own testimony earlier in the day, when 
he described his heavy addiction to marijuana and his susceptibility to 
pressure from undercover Police Officer Felix Aguirre, who he said did 
"persistent nagging." His lawyer has asserted an "entrapment defense," 
which seeks to show that her client would not have been inclined to sell 
drugs were it not for Aguirre's pressure. In turn, the prosecution is 
trying to counter her claim, by showing his predisposition toward drug 
dealing with other people. But defense attorney Judith Knight was also able 
to cut through Rybacki's and Cronin's testimony to bring a key issue to the 
jury's attention: the two-year  minimum mandatory sentence for convictions 
on drug violations in school zones,  which Sawin is facing. He is charged 
with three counts of distributing marijuana, and three counts of 
distributing within 1,000 feet of a school. In theory, a jury's 
deliberations can be influenced by knowing the consequences of conviction, 
so testimony about sentencing is typically withheld.  But Knight was 
allowed to probe the motive for their testimony, and both candidly admitted 
they hoped that the prosecutors in their own cases would  reward them by 
dropping the school-zone charges.

18 caught in sting A total of 18 people were charged in connection with 
last year's drug sting in Great Barrington; Sawin's is the first case to go 
to trial. Under questioning by prosecutor Richard Locke, both young men 
denied they had been promised anything in exchange for their testimony. 
Cronin said he had gone with his lawyer, William Rota, to police shortly 
after his arrest last Sept. 17 -- the day police began rounding up suspects 
after the summer-long drug sting -- to give a statement against others 
involved in the sting.

Rybacki said he went to police July 11, the day before Sawin's trial began. 
Both Rybacki and Cronin had been arrested and charged with selling 
marijuana in a school zone.

All of the teens are charged with selling marijuana to an undercover police 
officer, Aguirre, during the summer of 2004, in and around the Taconic 
parking lot in Great Barrington.

Sawin, of Otis, testified earlier in the day, and under questioning by 
Knight, described developing a drug problem as a young teen in Lee. He was 
using cocaine, ecstasy, OxyContin and marijuana, he said.

After speaking with his parents, he said, they agreed he would switch to 
Monument Mountain Regional High School in Great Barrington. Eventually he 
was able to give up the "harder" drugs, he said, but kept smoking 
marijuana. Calming effect "Throughout my life, I was a pretty high-strung 
kid," he said. "It made it hard to pay attention, and the marijuana helped 
to calm me down." His marijuana use picked up in the late spring of 2004 
and into the summer, he said, although he was able to work as a landscaper 
and help in the family business, The Other Brother Darryl's wholesale and 
retail seafood business. During summer, he gravitated into the Taconic 
parking lot, he said, where the social scene was lively and people would 
meet up daily; he said he wanted to "fit in," and was eventually smoking 
six or seven times a day, spending $250 per  week on marijuana.

He described his encounters with Aguirre, then known as "Jose," a man he 
said seemed older and extremely persistent about wanting to buy drugs. At 
first, said Sawin, he said no to Aguirre, and he denied selling marijuana 
to him on June 30, 2004, when Aguirre said he, Sawin and two other people 
climbed into a car in the parking lot to swap drugs for money. "I'm not 
accusing anyone of lying, but there must be some kind of mistake," said 
Sawin. "That transaction did not occur with me in that vehicle." Police 
testimony shows photos of Sawin after two other deals took place, on July 6 
and Sept. 3, but no photo was produced for June 30. Sawin admitted to the 
drug deals with Aguirre on July 6 and Sept. 3. "He always approached me. I 
never approached him," said Sawin of Aguirre. He said he often rebuffed 
Aguirre, but Aguirre kept coming back. Key witness barred Sawin lost a key 
witness yesterday whose testimony was precluded after early morning 
arguments before Judge John Agostini. After hearing testimony from 
psychotherapist Maro R. Hall, a substance abuse and addiction counselor who 
was treating Sawin in early 2004, Agostini ruled that she could not be 
designated as  an expert witness because her training, while extensive, did 
not qualify her to  testify on medical research related to addiction. He 
said Knight had also failed to show how Sawin's drug treatment played into 
his defense.

Laurie Sawin, Sawin's mother, was also set to testify, but did not. Today, 
the case will go to the jury for deliberations after closing arguments, 
which begin at 10 a.m.
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