My friend Professor Robert Batey of Stetson College in St Petersburg had this nice commentary in the Sep 26 Tampa Tribune:
US FL: OPED: Change Florida’s Draconian Drug Trafficking
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n1119.a01.html
Pubdate: Wed, 26 Sep 2007
Source: Tampa Tribune (FL)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Richard+Paey
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?232 (Chronic Pain)
CHANGE FLORIDA’S DRACONIAN DRUG TRAFFICKING STATUTE
The recent release of Richard Paey by Florida’s Clemency Board - the governor, chief financial officer, agriculture commissioner and attorney general - is a cause for rejoicing.
Paey, a chronic pain patient, had been sentenced to 25 years in prison for “trafficking” in pain medication, even though there was never any evidence that he sold or even gave his drugs to any other human being.
Paey’s 25-year mandatory minimum - the sentencing judge had no discretion - was triggered simply by the fact that he was found in possession of more than 28 grams of pain medication ( about an ounce ) without a valid prescription. The Clemency Board overturned this ludicrous sentence.
But it would be wrong to conclude that because of what the Clemency Board in Richard Paey’s case, “the system worked” The law that required a 25-year sentence for Paey is part of a dysfunctional legal system, which the Florida Legislature must change. Paey’s case shows that the need to amend Florida’s drug trafficking statute, which has over 20 draconian mandatory minimums in it, all triggered by simple possession. That’s right: One can be guilty of “trafficking” without ever transferring the drugs to anybody else.
The statute ought to be junked in its entirety, so that judges would have discretion, under Florida’s sentencing guidelines, to make the punishment fit the crime. Under other already existing laws, real drug traffickers could still get harsh sentences, but lesser sentences ( including referral to one of Florida’s drug courts ) would be possible for those who do not merit such severity.
Our legislators, however, are probably too timid to go that far, at least not yet. So Families Against Mandatory Minimums, a national lobbying organization I have worked with for more than 10 years, has proposed a more modest revision of Florida’s drug trafficking statute, one that would at least remove the ridiculous mandatory minimums that apply to legal pain medications like those involved in Richard Paey’s case ( as opposed to largely “recreational” drugs Like cocaine, which have few medicinal uses ). Our bill would also allow people who are now serving time under a mandatory minimum sentence like Richard Paey’s to seek parole. We presented this bill to members of the Florida Legislature before the last session, but it got nowhere. Hopefully, the attention that Richard Paey’s release should draw to Florida’s crazy drug “trafficking” statute will produce a different result in the near future.
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Robert Batey is a professor at Stetson University College of Law In St. Petersburg, FL. He has taught criminal law there for more than 30 years.
