Judge Endorses Tough Policy on Drugs : San Fernando: Critics say six-year minimum terms for repeat offenders will further clog the courts.

A judge on Wednesday endorsed a policy that subjects repeat drug offenders in San Fernando courts to minimum prison sentences that are twice as long as those routinely handed out in other Los Angeles County courthouses.

San Fernando Superior Court Judge Malcolm Mackey’s ruling came on a motion by the San Fernando public defender’s office. Bill Weiss, the head of that office, had tried to have prosecutors removed from such cases because of a minimum-sentencing policy set out by the head San Fernando prosecutor, contending that it was an abuse of discretion.

The public defender’s office filed its motion May 21 after head Deputy Dist. Atty. Billy Webb began requiring prosecutors not to accept a sentence of less than six years in prison for repeat drug-dealing suspects. The standard prison sentence accepted in plea bargains for such cases in other courthouses is three years.

Weiss had wanted the state attorney general’s office to prosecute San Fernando cases covered by the policy.

However, state Deputy Atty. Gen. Patrick T. Brooks argued that prosecutors have no legal or ethical obligation to engage in plea bargaining after a case is filed, noting that defendants are always entitled to a jury trial if they think a settlement offer is unacceptable.

Brooks said that Webb’s tough policy on repeat drug dealers is simply a matter of prosecutors adhering to the minimum sentence allowed by the law and that it does not create a conflict of interest that would prevent a defendant from receiving a fair trial.

“There is no evidence demonstrating prosecutorial vindictiveness or discriminatory enforcement,” he said. “There is no evidence of the traditional grounds for recusal, such as animosity toward an accused which supports a reasonable inference of unfairness.”

Mackey agreed, saying that “the prosecutor has the right to set up the value of the case.”

Weiss said Mackey’s ruling will mean that more cases will now go to trial, further tying up courtrooms in the small and congested courthouse.

“They are wasting a valuable, limited resource,” Weiss said, adding that the additional drug-dealing trials will result in “fewer courtrooms available for more serious cases such as rapes, assaults and homicides.”

But Brooks argued that removing the district attorney’s office from these cases would prevent the local prosecutor from carrying out the “statutory duties of his elected office.” That, he argued, would deprive citizens “of the services of their elected representatives in the prosecution of local crimes.”

Webb said he now hopes other branches of the district attorney’s office will adopt his tough policy on repeat drug dealers, but he said it is ultimately up to judges to be tougher on drug dealers.

“Judges should put on their black robes and put the Santa Claus suits away,” Webb said. “We’ve been hearing for years that there is a war on drugs. That’s not true. The war on drugs didn’t start until January, and it started here in San Fernando.”

In January, the San Fernando Courthouse began handling large numbers of drug cases that had formerly gone through the Van Nuys Courthouse. Now, generally, all crimes occurring north of Roscoe Boulevard are prosecuted in San Fernando, while those south of Roscoe are prosecuted in Van Nuys.

Donald N. Eastman, head deputy district attorney for the Van Nuys Courthouse, said he does not expect Mackey’s ruling to change the plea bargains accepted from repeat drug dealers in his courthouse. He said three-year prison terms will still be the standard settlement because he doesn’t believe that judges in Van Nuys would agree to the tougher sentences.