|
Sentencing:
Indiana
Judge
Compares
Meth
Cook
to
a
Terrorist,
Gives
Him
30
Years
11/25/05
https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle-old/412/indiana.shtml
The first man convicted of
running a home meth lab in Indiana's Delaware County (Muncie) has been
sentenced to 30 years in prison by a judge who compared him to a terrorist.
Kevin Burgess, 30, pleaded guilty this fall to manufacturing meth, a felony
carrying a possible 50-year sentence, but 30 years was the maximum allowable
under his plea agreement. And that's what he got from a judge determined
"to send a message."
Circuit Court 4 Judge John
Feick told Burgess during a sentencing hearing last week that he would
get the maximum possible sentence because he posed such a threat to the
community. Had his meth lab exploded, the judge said, Burgess could
have killed police, firefighters, and his own three-year-old son, who lived
in the house above the lab. In fact, the lab did not explode and
no one was injured.
"When you manufacture this,
you are almost a terrorist," Feick told Burgess.
Local prosecutors were happy
with the sentence. "It set the tone for what we're going to tolerate,"
Deputy Prosecutor Diane Frye told the Muncie Star Press. "We want
to make a statement that we don't want people cooking up meth."
Indiana reported some 670
meth labs busted last year, three of them in Delaware County.
A judge calling a drug offender
a terrorist is bad enough, but at least Burgess wasn't actually charged
with terrorism for cooking meth. That's what happened to 10 defendants
in North Carolina in 2003 when an overzealous local prosecutor described
their labs as "weapons of mass destruction" and attempted
to charge them under state terrorism statutes. Fortunately, saner
heads prevailed, the prosecutor was overruled, and the charges were dropped
a few weeks later.
-- END --
|
Issue #412
-- 11/25/05
Feature:
San
Francisco
Regulates
Medical
Marijuana
Dispensaries
|
Europe:
Dutch
Parliament
Ponders
Experiment
in
"Legal"
Coffeeshop
Supply
|
The
Prohibition
Debate:
Former
North
Carolina
Supreme
Court
Chief
Justice
Sparks
Controversy
with
Call
for
Look
at
Drug
Decriminalization
|
Prohibition
and
Violence:
California
Dispensary/Grower
Robberies
Claim
First
Fatality
|
Law
Enforcement:
This
Week's
Corrupt
Cops
Stories
|
Law
Enforcement:
Austin
Police
Chief
Fires
Cop
Who
Killed
Daniel
Rocha
|
Sentencing:
Rhode
Island
Federal
Judges
Not
Waiting
for
Congress
to
Fix
Crack-Powder
Cocaine
Sentencing
Disparities
|
Sentencing:
Indiana
Judge
Compares
Meth
Cook
to
a
Terrorist,
Gives
Him
30
Years
|
Medical
Marijuana:
Arkansas,
Wisconsin
Legislatures
Hold
Hearings
|
Latin
America:
Colombia
to
Suspend
Aerial
Fumigation
Along
Border
With
Ecuador
|
Web
Scan:
EMCDDA,
Cato
on
Mexico,
Jews
and
Medical
Marijuana
|
Job
Opportunity:
Operations
and
Technology
Coordinator,
Interfaith
Drug
Policy
Initiative,
DC
Area
|
Weekly:
The
Reformer's
Calendar
|
This issue -- main page
This issue -- single-file printer version
Drug War Chronicle -- main page
Chronicle archives
|
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