Bill would repeal mandatory drug terms

WILMINGTON -- A bill to repeal Delaware's tough minimum mandatory sentencing for drug crimes was released from a House committee Tuesday and could reach the House floor next month. House Bill 71, which was released from the House Judiciary Committee after a three-hour hearing in Wilmington, replaces a measure that would have left the system intact but permitted judges to hand down lesser sentences if the circumstances dictated.

That measure, H.B. 31, is being withdrawn following a U.S. Supreme Court decision that cast doubt on its constitutionality.

H.B. 71, sponsored by House Speaker Terry Spence, R-Stratford, would repeal the minimum mandatory system and permit judges to hand down a lesser sentence when circumstances warrant. The bill also would reclassify drug-trafficking offenses from class B felonies to class C.

Class B felonies carry the possibility of two to 25 years in prison, and the state's sentencing guidelines recommend terms of two to five years.

Class C felonies carry anywhere from zero to 15 years behind bars, while sentencing guidelines recommend terms of zero to 2 1/2 years.

Attorney Edmund N. "Ned" Carpenter II, who has pushed similar legislation with the advocacy group Stand Up for What's Right and Just, told the committee that Delaware's judges need to be able to hand down sentences that fit the cases.

"These laws put the courts in a straitjacket," he said.

Former FBI Director Louis Freeh, SURJ's chairman, was in Germany and could not attend Tuesday's hearing. But Carpenter told the committee that Freeh "enthusiastically supports the repeal of these laws."

However, the measure is opposed by the Delaware Police Chiefs Council, a politically potent group.

Wilmington Police Chief Michael Szczerba said current law is a weapon not only in combating drug trafficking but in getting violent criminals off the streets.

"Violence goes hand in hand with drug trafficking," he said.

And for the first time, the office of Attorney General Beau Biden publicly cast its lot with the bill's opponents. State Prosecutor Richard G. Andrews said there are three major problems with repealing minimum mandatory sentences.

"One, it's unnecessary," Andrews said. Second, it would hinder drug-law enforcement by removing an incentive for suspects facing lengthy terms to turn informant. And third, "If it results in lesser sentences, it will harm the community."

An identical bill was introduced in the last legislative session and was released from committee, but died without a House vote.