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Pubdate: Tue, 13 Aug 2002 Source: Fairfax Journal, The (VA) Copyright: 2002 The Journal Newspapers Contact: http://cold.jrnl.com/cfdocs/new/ffx/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1339 Author: Nora Raum Note: Nora Raum practices law in Northern Virginia. Her Web site is www.noraraum.com. This column, which appears Tuesdays, answers legal questions of general interest but is not intended to provide legal advice. Should you have a specific question or legal problem, consult an attorney. CLUELESS CAN BE TRAPPED BY MANDATORY SENTENCING Q. I recently saw a movie on Court TV called "Guilt by Association." It seemed to be a true story that took place in our area. All that the main character did was take some phone messages for her boyfriend. She did not know that he was dealing drugs, or that the messages were about drug deals. But because of mandatory sentencing laws, she got 20 years. Although I do not condone illegal drug use or drug dealing, I was wondering how this could happen. The woman in the movie appeared to be totally innocent to me. Do you know if this was really based on a true story, and could something like this really happen to an innocent person? I didn't catch that movie myself, but I did find some summaries of the plot online, and it sounds like a terrible injustice. A woman named Susan Walker was sentenced to 20 years in prison after being found guilty of involvement in her former boyfriend's drug operation. The movie portrayed her as a complete innocent - she had no idea what he was doing, let alone that she was helping him do it. But she was arrested along with others involved in the drug ring and eventually convicted. You ask if this could really happen to an innocent person. Sure. We have an imperfect system. Sometimes a guilty person walks, and sometimes an innocent person gets locked up. Heck, if you were to believe the letters I get from prison, our correctional facilities are full of innocent people! But even those with a more cynical view of the situation would have to admit that sometimes mistakes are made. Ours is an adversary system. The prosecution puts on its case that the defendant is guilty. The defense tries to poke holes in that case, and get the judge or jury to view the facts from a different point of view. The judge or jury then decides which version to believe. In the movie, it appears the prosecution didn't have a whole lot of evidence against the main character, but it apparently was enough. I read in one of the plot summaries that other people who were actually involved in the drug deals testified against Walker in exchange for lighter sentences for themselves. Now that does happen all the time. Most arrests end in plea bargains, not trials. It works for the system, since there are just too many cases for every one to be tried. Plea bargains are a good deal for the guilty parties, since they can get less time in prison if they plead guilty. And they're a good deal for the prosecutors, since they can get convictions without going through trials. As an added bonus, they can get evidence against defendants who won't plead guilty. You might wonder how the judge or jury could convict based on the testimony of admitted drug dealers. It happens. Sure, the defense can argue that the testimony should be rejected because it came from unsavory characters out to save their own skins. But the testimony is still evidence. It's up to the judge or jury to decide whether it can be believed under the circumstances. It appears the real villain in the movie was the mandatory sentencing law that required the judge to send this woman to prison for 20 years. Such laws take the discretion away from the judge and impose sometimes harsh punishment on minor players. The movie was promoted as being based on "true events" rather than one particular person's actual story. Certainly there are many cases of real people getting slammed by the mandatory minimums. Kemba Smith was one of them in Virginia. She was a sophomore at Hampton University when she acquired a boyfriend who turned out to be a drug dealer. Smith appears to have been more involved in his business than "Susan Walker." For example, she rented a car for him and carried money. There was also evidence that he abused her and she was afraid to leave him. She eventually pleaded guilty to charges, including conspiracy and lying to the authorities. And although she never actually handled any drugs, Smith was sentenced to 24 years in prison. She served six years until President Clinton commuted her sentence in his final weeks in office. The boyfriend was found shot to death before he could be tried. I don't like mandatory minimum sentences because they impose the same punishment no matter what the circumstances are. Within some parameters, it should be up to judges to impose the sentence after considering all the factors. That's why we pay them the big bucks. - --- MAP posted-by: Alex