Wins Reduced Sentence : Dope Dealer to Serve Stint in Israel Kibbutz

An Orange County Superior Court judge has agreed to reduce a man’s sentence for the sale of cocaine if he spends two years at a kibbutz in Israel as a condition of his probation.

Judge Luis A. Cardenas said the man, William A. Stillman, 28, of Los Alamitos, first proposed that he be allowed to go to the kibbutz, a collective farm, instead of going to jail at all.

Cardenas refused but said he would reduce the 90-day sentence to 45 days if Stillman, who is Jewish, went to the kibbutz for the proposed two years. Stillman would go back to jail, however, if he left the kibbutz early or did not go at all.

Cardenas said he was influenced by arguments by the man’s family that it would help Stillman get away from the drug culture, adding: “I thought the man’s family was sincere in their desire to see him get away from drugs.”

Stillman could have been sentenced to state prison, but Cardenas said he did not intend to give him more than 90 days in County Jail because the Los Alamitos man was a first-time offender and only a small amount of cocaine was involved.

“I could not agree to their proposal that he not go to jail at all,” Cardenas said. “He has to be punished. But if this will help straighten out his life, I don’t think reducing his jail sentence is going to hurt anything.”

Cardenas emphasized that the kibbutz was not his idea, and that he was in no way forcing the man to go to Israel. Stillman had the option of taking the full 90-day sentence.

“But to get a reduced sentence, he’s going to have to send me proof that he actually did go or I’ll have a warrant out for his arrest.”

If Stillman does not go to the kibbutz, he could face the rest of the 90-day sentence plus six months for probation violation, Cardenas pointed out.

Stillman’s family had already worked out most of the details for sending him to the Israeli kibbutz before Cardenas agreed to the proposal.