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| Md. Wins Supreme Court Drug Case |
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Posted by CN Staff on May 20, 2002 at 16:29:00 PT By Gina Holland, Associated Press Writer Source: Associated Press 
A united Supreme Court ruled Monday that the government does not have to automatically retry convicts because of mistakes in their indictments. The ruling is a follow-up to a decision two years ago that directed prosecutors to put more information about crimes in indictments. The latest decision, involving convicted Maryland drug dealers, spares prosecutors from having to go back to court for narcotics cases resolved before 2000. Justices said when federal defendants do not raise objections to their indictments at trial, judges reviewing their appeals must consider whether an indictment error affected the case's outcome. Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, writing the 9-0 opinion, said there was plenty of evidence against the people convicted of running a crack cocaine ring in Baltimore. Five of the convicted dealers are serving life sentences. Prosecutors never spelled out in the indictment the amount of drugs involved, but a judge determined later it was enough to justify harsher penalties. Rehnquist dismissed arguments that the dealers were unfairly convicted and sentenced. "Indeed, the fairness and integrity of the criminal justice system depends on meting out to those inflicting the greatest harm on society the most severe punishments," Rehnquist wrote. The Baltimore cases were settled before the 2000 Supreme Court decision that changed the way prosecutors must handle some crimes. Allegations that bring harsher penalties must be put in an indictment and proven to a jury, the court ruled then. The Supreme Court has two more cases to decide before July that challenge prosecutors' methods under the 2000 ruling. The other cases ask whether it is wrong for judges -- not juries -- to impose death sentences and add extra penalties for crimes involving weapons. "They've done the easiest one first," said Nancy J. King, a law professor at Vanderbilt University. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had said the five accused drug dealers "received a sentence for a crime ... with which they were neither charged nor convicted." The Supreme Court overturned that decision and sent the case back for more review. King said there are likely hundreds more pending cases with similar drug amount arguments. The court's ruling will also apply to other cases involving claims of errors in federal indictments raised after trial. The case is United States v. Cotton, 01-687. Newshawk: Nicholas Thimmesch II -- http://www.norml.org/ CannabisNews Justice Archives Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help |
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