Posted on 07/21/2003 6:34:48 AM PDT by Stew Padasso
DAs try antiterror laws for drug cases
WINSTON-SALEM - Following the lead of Watauga County, other district attorneys in North Carolina are considering using antiterrorism laws to prosecute accused methamphetamine producers.
Watauga County District Attorney Jerry Wilson last week charged a man accused of running a methamphetamine lab with violating state laws involving the manufacture of nuclear or chemical weapons.
The statute, passed in November 2001, was meant to deal with terrorists and carries a stiffer sentence than most drug laws.
"We sat down and began looking for something more that we could use as a weapon against these people, and that's the statute we found," said Wilson, whose county has had 24 meth labs raided this year.
Forsyth County District Attorney Tom Keith said his office's policy now is that "we will put B1 felonies on anyone having anything to do with methamphetamines. These things are very dangerous."
B1 felonies carry prison sentences ranging from 12 years to life.
The first person who will be prosecuted under the antiterrorism laws is Martin Dwayne Miller, 24, of Todd.
Miller, who was arrested July 11, was charged with two counts of manufacturing a nuclear or chemical weapon, in connection with charges relating to methamphetamine production. Even if Miller were convicted of the most serious drug charge against him, he might have served only six months in prison, Wilson said.
To link the drug's production to chemical weapons, prosecutors referred to the toxic and combustible nature of the chemicals involved in methamphetamine production. They said police officers and firefighters who respond to calls involving the drug risk serious injury.
Keith said the use of the antiterrorism law to stop the growth of methamphetamine laboratories is necessary to prevent problems that have plagued other states.
"We're not going to let them get a foothold," Keith said. "If we catch them, we want to take their life away, put them away for as long as we can."
Several defense lawyers reacted to Wilson's decision with a mix of skepticism and concern for the rights of the accused.
"It seems to me to be a real stretch of the imagination, that this would be covered under the antiterrorism law," said Wallace Harrelson, Guilford County's public defender. "It seems to me that the antiterrorism law was designed with a specific purpose in mind, to prosecute people who are threatening to hurt the safety of the general public."
Forsyth County public defender Pete Clary said Wilson might be overstepping his bounds as a prosecutor.
"I think it's up to the legislature to decide whether the law is `woefully insufficient'," Clary said. "The DA is charged with enforcing the laws on the books, not as he wishes they were."
Oh no. it's too late!
But not beyond the Drug Warriors.
One small bag of crystal meth could make large sections of California uninhabitable for generations.
Oops, did I say crystal meth? I meant Gray Davis.
Christ almighty.
They just can't pervert the system enough, can they?
To link the drug's production to chemical weapons, prosecutors referred to the toxic and combustible nature of the chemicals involved in methamphetamine production. They said police officers and firefighters who respond to calls involving the drug risk serious injury.
The same can be said of gasoline, propane, hairspray, or rubbing alcohol. Nevermine starting fluid, which is spray ether. Shall possession of .0001 grams of propane be declared a terrorist act, possession of a chemical weapon? You can't be too careful these days. Better safe than sorry.
I knew this was the ulterior motive behind the "smoking pot supports terrorism" campaign as soon as I heard about the superbowl ads.
Any DA who won't abide by those rules should be recalled.
Oops! Scratch that, you might drown someone!
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