Pubdate: Fri, 21 Jan 2005
Source: Newsday (NY)
Copyright: 2005 Newsday Inc.
Contact:  http://www.newsday.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/308
Author: Anthony M. Destefano
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?140 (Rockefeller Drug Laws)

ROCKEFELLER REFORMS FREE INMATE AFTER 19 YEARS

The last time Ivan Wright appeared before State Supreme Court Justice Lewis
Douglass in a Brooklyn courtroom, he was headed to prison on a
25-years-to-life sentence for selling cocaine to an undercover cop.

That was in 1987. Thursday, in what was believed to be the first
resentencing under the revamped Rockefeller drug laws, Douglass effectively
freed Wright, now 69.

After 19 years in state prison, Wright looked frail and a bit bewildered as
he walked into Douglass' courtroom. He did manage to give his wife, Monalisa
Little, and daughter Dolka Fareaux, 30, a big grin and a thumbs-up sign.

Convicted in 1985 for selling relatively small amounts of cocaine to the
undercover -- none more than 3 ounces -- in a series of transactions, Wright
earned the right to be resentenced because of legislation in December that
revised some of the onerous provisions of the state drug law enacted in
1973.

The Brooklyn district attorney's office supported Wright's bid to get out of
prison.

Under the new statute, those convicted of an A-1 drug charge, which carried
a 25-years-to-life maximum sentence, have the option of asking to be
re-sentenced.

"I wish Mr. Wright good luck," Douglass said after resentencing Wright to a
maximum of 19 years, the time Wright already has served. He has spent most
of his imprisonment in Shawangunk Correctional Facility in Ulster County.

Because the case appears to be the first such resentencing in the state
under the new law, there was confusion about the procedure to follow.
Douglass twice erroneously started to resentence Wright to 19 years to life
before quickly correcting himself.

Douglass allowed Wright, who will be freed in a few days, to spend a few
minutes in court talking with his wife and daughter. Wright's family thinks
he will return to his native Panama.

"I am happy for him," a tearful Fareaux, of Brooklyn, told reporters later.

"He certainly shouldn't have been spending the rest of his life in jail,"
Brooklyn District Attorney Charles J. Hynes told Newsday. "It was the just
thing to do."

"Clearly he made a mistake," defense attorney Lisa Schreibersdorf, executive
director of Brooklyn Defenders Services, said of Wright's drug-dealing past. 
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