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Ashley O'Donoghue is a low-level, nonviolent
offender currently serving a 7-to-21-year sentence for the sale
of 2 1/2 ounces of cocaine. In September 2003, the Oneida County
district attorney claimed that the 20-year-old was a major drug
kingpin and needed to face a life sentence under the Rockefeller
Drug Laws.
Reacting to a commonly used
scare tactic, O'Donoghue agreed to a plea bargain. His A-1 felony,
the highest possible felony, was reduced to a B felony. Like
magic, O'Donoghue was no longer a kingpin - that is, a drug dealer
distributing extraordinarily large quantities.
There are thousands of defendants
just like O'Donoghue, whom prosecutors claim are kingpins one
day and then, through plea negotiations, kingpins no more.
I went through the same experience
in 1984 when I was arrested for the sale of 4 ounces of cocaine.
A Westchester assistant district attorney claimed I was a major
kingpin. But in the months that followed he offered me a plea
bargain of three years to life. He told me if I refused the offer
I would not see my 7-year-old daughter until she was 22 years
old. This really frightened me, and I did not want to leave my
family alone.
I decided to go to trial and
was convicted and sentenced to 15 years to life. In 1997, after
serving 12 years, I was freed by Gov. George Pataki through executive
clemency.
Recently, a report released
by Bridget Brennan, New York City's special narcotics prosecutor,
proclaimed that kingpins and people convicted of high-level drug
offenses are being released under the new Rockefeller Drug Law
revisions. The report, titled "The Law of Unintended Consequences,"
is a lopsided review of the Drug Law Reform Act of 2004. The
modest changes to the Rockefeller Drug Laws have allowed approximately
1,000 people convicted
of A-1 and A-2 drug felonies to apply for resentencing. The controversial
findings in the report bolster Brennan's final conclusions: a
clarion call for a kingpin statute and opposition to any additional
reforms to the Rockefeller Drug Laws. Critics quickly questioned
the validity of the report, claiming that it contained skewed
data and its creation was politically motivated.
The report is questionable
in many aspects, but I agree with Brennan on one point: New York
needs a kingpin statute. Allowing prosecutors to define this
term has meant that people like O'Donoghue and me are kingpins
one day but not the next. New York needs a clear and reasonable
kingpin statute that can be applied to real kingpins - bona fide
major traffickers - not people convicted of low-level offenses.
The kingpin statute that Brennan calls for is both unreasonable
and incompatible with justice, because it is so broad.
Brennan's report highlighted
84 drug cases handled by her office, with 65 applicants receiving
judicial relief under the new law. Contrary to Brennan's tabloidlike
insinuation that the prison gates just opened up, each prisoner
seeking resentencing had to go through a lengthy application
process in order to see a judge for resentencing.
Right now there are almost
4,000 B-level felons serving time in New York State for low-level,
nonviolent drug offenses for small amounts of drugs. Many of
the defendants have drug-addiction problems. These thousands
of offenders are not classified as kingpins. So why would Brennan
actively oppose reforms to release them? It costs taxpayers millions
of dollars to incarcerate these people when community-based treatment
costs less and has proved more effective than incarceration in
treating addiction.
Brennan needs to be reminded
that the governor, State Senate and Assembly leaders agreed reforms
were necessary to equally balance the scales of justice in applying
the law with the needs of protecting our communities.
To cause a panic by releasing
a questionable report is nothing more than additional punishment
for those incarcerated and an underhanded political tactic to
stop further needed reform. If Brennan wants a kingpin statute,
let's fashion one for real kingpins, not for the low-level offenders.
CounterPunch
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