Reiner Will Seek Stiffer Penalties for Drug Dealers

Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner, citing a dramatic increase in the street sale of hard drugs in Los Angeles County, is ordering his deputies to demand stiffer penalties for dealers who are now receiving “incredibly lenient sentences.”

Under the new guidelines that took effect Monday, prosecutors are to urge judges to impose a minimum six-month jail sentence on first offenders--with the added provision that those caught dealing a second time will automatically be sent to state prison for up to three years for having violated the terms of probation.

“The typical sentence (now) for someone who sells cocaine on the streets . . . often amounts to only a couple days,” Reiner wrote in a memo to his staff. “Such lenient sentences do not befit the crime, do not deter further criminal conduct and do not serve justice by anyone’s measure. . . .

“This is not an attack upon judges for imposing lenient sentences,” Reiner added. “It may or may not come to that if such a practice should continue.”

Reiner, asserting that repeated narcotics trafficking is occurring at 154 street locations in the Central District of Los Angeles alone, also called for the creation of special narcotics and probation-violation courts to deal exclusively with cases involving street dealers.

Sheriff Sherman Block and the Los Angeles County Superior Court’s Presiding Judge, Thomas T. Johnson, who met privately with Reiner last week, voiced general support for the initiative, although they added that it might place further stress on an already overburdened justice system.

Houses Nearly 20,000

The County Jail, for example, now houses close to 20,000 prisoners despite its rated capacity of 11,800. Nonetheless, Block said: “He has my unequivocal support. . . . Whatever it takes, we’ll have to adjust accordingly.

“Despite our overcrowding,” Block emphasized, “I’ve never advocated that the people who belong in jail, not be in jail. . . . There’s no question in my mind drug dealers are worthy of priority attention.”

As for the courts, a flood of new trials could materialize once street dealers realize that if they plead guilty, they will no longer be back on the streets in just a few days. Reiner said the guidelines could force the county to begin holding significant numbers of criminal cases in the county’s civil courthouse.

“Naturally we don’t look forward with pleasure to using a substantial number of civil courts for this service, but we’ll just have to see if it’s necessary,” said Johnson. “Everybody in the court system understands the fact that this street sale of narcotics is quite a serious matter and it’s not something that’s improving.”

Johnson added that the concept of specialized courts is being examined, although he has opposed them in the past because they would likely prove uneconomical in the long run.

As for judges’ sentencing practices, Johnson said: “I’m sure there are some people that look at things a little differently than others but I don’t consider anybody lax. . . . I don’t know anybody who really minimizes the seriousness of on-street drug sales.”

Reiner said that until now, the general practice of county judges has been to sentence street dealers of small quantities of cocaine, heroin or PCP to the time served between their arrests and sentencings. That amounts to no more than a few hours if the defendant can afford a $500 bail premium, and no more than 35 days if the defendant cannot.

The reasons that stiffer penalties--the maximum sentence for selling cocaine is four years--have not been imposed include the fact that most dealers are caught with very small quantities because they keep their larger stashes in nearby cars or buildings, Reiner said. As well, Reiner said, the criminal justice system has focused almost exclusively on cases involving large-scale drug trafficking, and courtroom calendars are also flooded with violent crime cases, which are deemed more serious.

“When you see people on the street openly dealing drugs,” Reiner said, “there’s only one conclusion--and that is, given their street smarts, that they are well aware that the consequences are not serious.”

Since January, 2,416 cases already have been filed for hand-to-hand narcotics sales by Reiner’s Central Trials Division. That amounts to 42% of the total narcotics cases filed by the division. Narcotics filings have increased 29% for the first seven months of 1986, contrasted with the same period in 1985.