Pubdate: Sat, 24 Sep 2005 Source: Berkshire Eagle, The (Pittsfield, MA) Copyright: 2005 New England Newspapers, Inc. Contact: http://www.berkshireeagle.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/897 Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?199 (Mandatory Minimum Sentencing) THE SAWIN ACQUITTAL Kyle W. Sawin's acquittal on drug-dealing charges yesterday in Berkshire Superior Court suggests that the District Attorney's office will be hard-pressed to get any convictions of those collected in the drug sting last year in Great Barrington. The office may well have brought, in the words of District Attorney David Capeless, a "compelling and very credible case," but jurors are feeling human beings, who may never be sold on a conviction knowing what is in store for the defendant if found guilty. Mr. Sawin was found not guilty of distributing marijuana and committing a drug violation within a 1,000-foot school zone two months after his first case ended in a mistrial when the jury deadlocked. Jurors may have bought the defense's argument that the defendant was entrapped by a member of the county's Drug Task Force and/or it was uncomfortable with the mandatory two-year jail sentence for convictions of a school-zone offense. Three men, who were also part of the original 17 netted on drug charges in the Taconic parking lot, testified against Mr. Sawin in the hope that their own two-year mandatory minimum charges would be dropped, which raised the sentencing law to the attention of jurors. The Draconian nature of the school-zone law simply cannot be ignored. It makes no distinction between first and habitual offenders or the amount of drugs sold. It ties the hands of judges, who should be allowed to consider the differences in drug cases brought before them. It is clearly designed to protect school children, and while the Taconic lot is within 1,000-feet of two schools, the undercover operation took place in summer. It's obvious unfairness will loom over any of the trials brought because of the Great Barrington sting. First-time drug dealers should be penalized through some combination of probation, counseling and community service that will set them straight without ruining the lives of the young people charged. However, the district attorney's all-or-nothing strategy, built as it is upon a bad law, means they will escape punishment and the counseling they clearly need. In essence, the Great Barrington sting and prosecution has accomplished nothing, other than perhaps scaring marijuana dealers out of downtown Great Barrington. The Berkshires do have major drug problems, but they involve drugs like heroin or crack, which can kill users and whose dealers and users often resort to violence. Juror Jonathan Nix of Becket expressed outrage that so many government resources were put into "such a trivial case with such meager returns." We hope the result of yesterday's trial, and the likelihood of similar decisions if more of the Great Barrington sting cases go to trial, will prompt Mr. Capeless to focus more of his department's efforts on the serious drug problems that afflict the Berkshires. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake