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Newsbriefs
7/23/99
Jane Tseng, [email protected]
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On Saturday (7/17), Alton Fitzgerald
White, star of the Broadway musical "Ragtime," announced that he is considering
filing suit against the New York City police. White was wrongfully
arrested outside of his Harlem apartment building, strip-searched, and
detained for five hours on Friday after the police got a report of drug
dealing in the building. White said he suspects that he and the three
men he was walking with were picked out because they are black. White's
detention caused him to miss that evening's performance of "Ragtime", in
which he plays a black man who is accosted by a racist fireman in turn-of-the-century
New York.
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On Friday (7/16), a Dutch court
convicted the former Surinam President Desi Bouterse of heading a cocaine
smuggling ring in South America. The court sentenced Bouterse to
16 years in jail and a $2.3 million fine. Bouterse was convicted
in absentia and remains at large and politically powerful in the former
Dutch colony. Authorities claim that Bouterse headed the shipment
of around $24 million worth of drugs from South America to the Netherlands.
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A Calgary father expressed outrage
after Tac-Team officers raided a city home next to a daycare center where
his two year old daughter was playing outside. Tim Florence said
that all the children at Jan-Pat Dayhomes were visibly shaken and that
the police should have notified the center of the raid so that the children
could have been taken inside. The police said that it was not possible
to notify the public of such situations. One officer suggested that
some members of the team could go to the center and talk to the children
to explain what they had seen. All of the children are under 5 years
old.
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A man in California, sentenced
under the "three strikes" law to 25 years to life in prison for breaking
into a church to steal food lost his appeal this week. Gregory Taylor
is currently being held in the same prison that housed mass murderers such
as Charles Mason. The one dissenting judge on the three judge panel
that heard Taylor's appeal compared the case to that of the character Jean
Valjean in the Victor Hugo novel Les Miserables who was imprisoned for
stealing bread.
Taylor's previous convictions
consisted of a purse-snatching in 1984 and an attempted street robbery
in 1985. He served less than two years in jail for both offenses
combined. Seven years after his second felony, Taylor was convicted
of cocaine possession and violated the terms of his parole when he failed
to show up for a drug test.
In July 1997, Taylor was
caught breaking into the back door of a church in July 1997. He was
convicted of attempted robbery and sentenced under the "three strikes"
law. Taylor appealed the conviction but it was upheld. The
California Supreme court has not decided whether it will consider his case.
Without the "three strikes" law, Taylor would be sentenced to no more than
three years in prison. "The law was designed for repeat felons, not
repeat nuisances. The punishment doesn't fit the crime," said Los
Angeles County deputy public defender Alex Ricciardulli. Taylor,
now 37 years old, will not be eligible for parole until he is 60.
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Voters in California approved
the "three strikes" law in 1994 after the highly publicized kidnapping
and murder of 12-year old Polly Klaas by a paroled felon. "Three
strikes" was intended to reduce crime by keeping repeat felons off the
streets. The law requires a 25 years to life sentence for individuals
convicted of a third felony after committing two "serious or violent" felonies.
The mandatory sentence does not allow the judges to exercise their own
discretion and evaluate each case on a personal basis. Aware that
the law would produce just this type of injustice, Polly Klaas' family
campaigned vigorously against the law prior to its passage.
-- END --
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Issue #100, 7/23/99
100 Issues Later | DC Appropriations Bill Moves Forward -- Medical Marijuana Vote May Be Counted, Syringe Exchange May Be Re-funded | Senate Holds First Hearing on Civil Forfeiture Reform | Fuel to the Fire: Drug Czar Proposes Billion More for Andean Drug War, Mostly Colombia | Florida Drug Czar Killer Fungus Plan Worries Experts | Speaker Lashes Out at Drug War at Mormon Symposium | Newsbriefs | Editorial: And The Winner Is
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