Pubdate: Mon, 21 Apr 2008
Source: News & Observer (Raleigh, NC)
Copyright: 2008 The News and Observer Publishing Company
Contact: http://www.newsobserver.com/484/story/433256.html
Website: http://www.news-observer.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/304
Author: Marisa Taylor, McClatchy Newspapers
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/racial.htm (Racial Issues)

CRACK CONVICTS FACE RESENTENCING ALONE

WASHINGTON - As the federal courts begin the unprecedented task of 
deciding whether thousands of prisoners should receive lower crack 
cocaine sentences, some judges are telling poor convicts that they 
won't get lawyers to help them argue for leniency.

As a result, some prisoners are being left to argue on their own 
behalf against skilled prosecutors, raising questions about fairness. 
The recalculations come after a 20-year debate over racial 
disparities in cocaine sentences. A majority of crack cocaine 
defendants are black, while most powder cocaine defendants are white 
and received much less severe sentences. The U.S. Sentencing 
Commission issued new recommendations last year for lighter penalties.

Many of the 20,000 prisoners who are eligible say they're too poor to 
hire lawyers to ask for lower sentences. Many judges have appointed 
federal defenders to represent poor prisoners at taxpayers' expense, 
saying it ensures that the requests will be handled efficiently. 
Other judges have not appointed attorneys, saying they aren't needed 
for a straightforward sentencing matter.

The constitutional right to an attorney after criminal indictment and 
during trial and sentencing is undisputed. But several federal 
appeals and district courts have said that judges generally don't 
have to appoint attorneys for convicted criminals who are seeking 
corrected sentences. Without lawyers, some defendants with legitimate 
requests will be overlooked, say federal defenders who are screening 
many of the crack cocaine cases.

"We're being left to fend for ourselves," said Eyvonne Garrett, a 
prisoner in Fort Worth, Texas, who was denied an attorney and a lower 
sentence. "Without an attorney, we don't have a voice."
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