Pubdate: Fri, 22 Jul 2005
Source: Berkshire Eagle, The (Pittsfield, MA)
Contact:  http://www.berkshireeagle.com/
Address: PO Box 1171, Pittsfield, MA 01202
Fax: (413) 499-3419
Copyright: 2005 New England Newspapers, Inc
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

MISTRIAL PRESENTS AN OPPORTUNITY

It cannot be said with certainty why the jury hearing the case of 
Kyle Sawin of Otis, the first of the so-called Great Barrington 16 
faced with drug-dealing charges in the Taconic parking lot to be 
tried, could not reach a verdict, resulting in yesterday's mistrial 
at Berkshire Superior Court. It can  be said that what might have 
been seen as a routine case was complicated by the mandatory two-year 
jail sentence facing Mr. Sawin. That could, and should, give anyone pause.

When John Rybacki, 18, and Justin Cronin, 19, former classmates of 
the 18-year-old Mr. Sawin at Monument Mountain Regional High School, 
testified that they purchased marijuana at various times from Mr. 
Swain, it provided defense attorney Judith Knight with the 
opportunity to bring out that Mr. Swain faced a mandatory two-year 
sentence for dealing drugs within a school zone. Both Mr. Rybacki and 
Mr. Cronin admitted they hoped the school-zone charges would be 
dropped in exchange for their testimony.

Juries should not, at least in theory,  be influenced by the 
consequences of a conviction, and maybe the jurors were  not. But the 
school-zone law is an elephant in the room too large to ignore. The 
school-zone law is fatally flawed on a number of counts.

It does not give judges adequate discretion in sentencing. It fails 
to make a distinction between  first and habitual offenders or the 
amount of drugs sold. It's obvious intent  was to prevent dealers 
from selling drugs to schoolchildren, but no children  were 
jeopardized here. While the Taconic lot is within 1,000-feet of the 
Great Barrington Co-operative Preschool and the Searles/Bryant School 
complex, which  made the law applicable in these cases, the 
undercover operation took place  during the summer and no children 
were targeted. The drug in question is marijuana, which may or may 
not be a starter drug for more dangerous substances depending on 
which study you read. But it isn't heroin  or crack, two drugs that 
have been killing people in Berkshire County. The Sawin  case must be 
retried, and if this trial was a harbinger of things to come, 
than  District Attorney David Capeless must ask himself if the 
pursuit of the Great  Barrington defendants is the best way for him 
to use his manpower and resources in light of other criminal problems 
facing the Berkshires. The school-zone law is intimidating enough to 
produce plea bargains, which can eliminate trials and produce 
reasonable sentences in the bargain.

This is a better way of using the law, a law that should not be 
brought against first-time  marijuana dealers in any case.

No one disputes that drug dealing is a crime.

But the punishment under the school-zone law does not fit the crime.

Some combination of probation, counseling and community service would 
constitute an appropriate form of  punishment that won't ruin the 
lives of young people who have made mistakes.

In  the wake of the first Great Barrington trial, this is the route to take.
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MAP posted-by: Beth