Broad Cuts To Drug Sentences Put Minn. Legislature On Notice
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A group of Minnesota county attorneys and law enforcement officials urged lawmakers Friday to significantly reduce prison sentences for many of the state's drug offenders before automatic changes take effect in August.
The legislation they're advocating calls to slash most first-degree drug sale and possession sentences from roughly seven years down to five and a half years and reduce the suggested four-year prison term to probation for second-degree charges. If passed, those changes would trump a broader set of reductions set in motion by the state's sentencing commission last year.
Uniformed police officers, county prosecutors and defense attorneys lined up behind the bill as it was announced Friday — a show of force as the battle turns to the state Legislature. They billed it as a compromise between a desire to realign Minnesota's punitive drug laws with neighboring states and outcry from law enforcement about giving prison discounts to criminals.
"We're not done yet," said Sen. Ron Latz, a St. Louis Park Democrat who helped broker the deal. "It's my hope that legislators are going to look at the whole package, and some of them are just going to have to guts to stand up and say ... this is the right thing to do."
Minnesota's drug sentencing has been debated for decades. The state's ongoing struggle with its overstretched prison capacity and concern about putting addicts behind bars rather than in treatment has put the discussion at the forefront.
Minnesota's Sentencing Guidelines Commission may have forced the Legislature's hand when it unilaterally passed prison sentence reductions for first- and second-degree drug offenders late last year — changes that will take effect in August unless lawmakers act. County attorneys, police representatives and lawmakers from both parties balked at that change, arguing it would let some major drug dealers off the hook with lighter punishment.
Latz's bill may offer an alluring alternative. The proposed sentence reductions are slightly smaller than those put forth by the commission, and the bill would levy harsher sentences for offenders caught with guns or other, violence-driven factors. While it boosts the weight thresholds for cocaine and methamphetamine to qualify for serious charges — from 10 grams to 17 grams for a first-degree charge — the changes would mean stiffer penalties for offenders who traffic in 100 pounds or more of marijuana.
Those changes helped win over a critical supporter — Rep. Tony Cornish, a top Republican who had sought to block the sentencing commission's changes outright. Faced with the choice between taking a difficult vote on relaxing prison sentences and allowing the commission's actions to take hold, Cornish said he's confident lawmakers on his side will get on board.
"This is the first major revision in drug crimes, if this passes, in 27 years," Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom said. "It properly strikes the balance between public safety in our state and provides opportunity for treatment for the nonviolent, less serious drug offenders."
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