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il,r ^Jortlanò (í)hsertn?r
August 4, 2010
Cocaine Sentencing Disparities Narrowed
Corrects law that
targeted blacks
(AP) — Congress has changed a
quarter-century-old law that has
subjected tens o f thousands o f
blacks to long prison terms for crack
cocaine convictions while giving
far more lenient treatment to those,
mainly whites, caught with the pow
der form of the drug.
The House, by voice vote, ap
proved a bill last week reducing the
disparities betw een m andatory
crack and powder cocaine sen
tences, sending the measure to Presi
dent Barack Obama. The president
signed the bill Tuesday in the Oval
Office with news photographers
present. He made no remarks, but
during his presidential campaign,
Obama said that the wide gap in
sentencing "cannot be justified and
should be eliminated." The Senate
passed the bill in March.
The measure alters a 1986 law,
enacted at a time when crack co
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caine use was rampant and consid
ered a particularly violent drug,
under which a person convicted o f
crack cocaine possession gets the
same mandatory prison term as
someone with 100 times the same
amount o f powder cocaine.
The legislation reduces that ratio
to about 18-1.
The bill also eliminates the five-
year mandatory minimum for first
time possession o f crack, the first
time since the Nixon administration
that Congress has repealed a man
datory minimum sentence.
Under the old law, possession of
five grams of crack triggered a man
datory minimum five-year prison sen
tence. The same mandatory sentence
applied to a person convicted o f traf
ficking 500 grams o f powder cocaine.
The proposed legislation would
apply the five-year term to someone
with 28 grams, or an ounce, o f crack.
Julie Stewart, president o f Fami
lies Against Mandatory Minimums,
said 28 grams is about what the aver
age crack dealer might carry around.
She said politicians and the U.S.
Sentencing Commission have for
years acknowledged the unfairness
o f the system, "but no one wanted
to look soft on crime." The legisla
tive change, she said, is "much more
about being smart on crime."
She cited Sentencing Commis
sion estimates that almost 3,000
people a year subjected to the man
datory sentence would be affected
by the change. The average sen
tence in these cases would be re
duced from 106 months to 79 months.
Sen. Dick Durbin, D-lll., the main
sponsor o f the bill in the Senate, said
last year close to 1,500 people were
convicted for possession o f some
where between five and 25 grams of
crack cocaine, subjecting them to
mandatory minimum sentences.
Some 80 percent of those convicted
o f crack cocaine offenses are black.
Pom Collector Draws 15 Years
A man who federal prosecutors found in Oregon has been sentenced
said had the largest collection o f to 15 years in prison.
child pornography they have ever
Dewey Burr o f Hillsboro pleaded
guilty last March to distribution o f
child pornography after his arrest
last year.
The FBI said investigators found
1.1 million images o f child pornogra
phy on his computer, including
graphic images o f babies and tod
dlers being sexually abused.
Federal prosecutors said the 51 -
year-old Burr adm itted that he
viewed and traded child pornogra
phy on a daily basis and had been
collecting images for a long time.
Burr was sentenced July 28 in
U.S. District Court in Portland.
DNA Cracks
1984 Murder
Portland Police cold case homi
cide detectives arrested a man in
Gresham Thursday and charged him
with murder in the 1984 death o f a
northeast Portland woman.
Frederick Alvin Richey, 56, is
accused o f killing Francis Marie
Waites who was 28-years-old at the
time o f her death.
Waites was found murdered in
her residence in the 5200 block o f
Northeast 24th Avenue on March
23, 1984. The Medical Examiner's
Office determined that she died from
multiple stab wounds.
w w w .n e w s e a s o n s m a r k e t.c o m
you click, we deliver, (or pull up for pick up)
Retired detectives from the
bureau's Cold Case unit began
reviewing this case in 2008 and
it was assigned to a primary
detective in 2009. The Oregon
State Police Crime Laboratory
reported a DNA hit to detec
tives in 2009 and investigators
followed up on the DNA lead.
Richey is being held at the
Multnomah County Jail in down
town Portland.