Indianapolis Recorder, Indianapolis, Marion County, 1 December 2000 — Page 4

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THE INDIANAPOLIS RECORDER

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 1,20^1?

CHRISTMAS BAZAAR

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United Negro College Fund proudly presents the ^ First Annual Mayor’s Ball December 9? 2000 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. at Vincennes University Aviation Technology Center, Indianapolis Airport Tickets are $100 per person The Mayor’s Ball will include An Evening of Stars Taping for the national show to be telecast on January 6, 2001 A Celebration of Educational Excellence benefiting the United Negro College Fund Call the UNCF office at 283-3920 for event tickets or a taping session. ($1000 minimum contribution for show taping)

ROADBLOCKS Continued from A1

check on the authorities’ ability to construct roadblocks for almost any conceivable law enforcement purpose,” the opinion said. Lawyers for Indianapolis conceded that the roadblocks erected there in 1998 detained far more innocent motorists than criminals. The city said its primary aim was to catch drug criminals. Civil liberties advocates called the practice heavy-handed and risky, and asked the Supreme Court to ban it. Law enforcement in and of itself is not a good enough reason to stop innocent motorists, the majority ruling concluded. The court was not swayed by the argument that the severity of the drug problem in some city neighborhoods justified the searches. “While we do not limit the purposes that may justify a checkpoint program to any rigid set of categories, we decline to approve a program whose primary purpose is ultimately indistinguishable from the general interest in crime control,” the majority opinion said. Cars were pulled over at random in high-crime neighborhoods in Indianapolis, motorists questioned, and a drug-sniffing dog led around the cars. Most motorists were detained for about three minutes. The city conducted six roadblocks over four months in 1998

before the practice was challenged in federal court. Police stopped 1,161 cars and trucks and made 104 arrests. Fiftyfive of the arrests were on drug charges. Chief Justice William Rehnquist and Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas dissented. “Efforts to enforce the law on pubic highways used by millions of motorists are obviously necessary to our society,” Rehnquist wrote. “The court’s opinion today casts a shadow over what has been assumed... to be a perfectly lawful activity.” The drug checks were brief, random and in line with the kinds of checks approved in the past, Rehnquist wrote. Also, they helped police find drunks and people driving without proper paperwork, he wrote. “Because these seizures serve the state’s accepted and significant interests of preventing drunken driving, and checking for driver’s licenses and vehicle registrations, and because there is nothing in the record to indicate that the addition of the drug sniff lengthens these otherwise legitimate seizures, I dissent,” the chief justice wrote. Thomas joined the entire ninepage dissent. Scalia agreed with Rehnquist only in part. Several other cities have used similar checkpoints, but others

were holding off to see what the Supreme Court would say about | the Indianapolis case. The Indiana Civil Liberties^ Union brought the court challenge t on behalf of two detained motorists. ICLU lawyers claimed police , had no right to use the roadblocks , to investigate criminal drug activ- ^ ity without good reason to suspect f ‘ one motorist or another. ^ The Fourth Amendment, which', forbids unreasonable searches or , seizures, generally protects Ameri- , cans from random sidewalk ques- V tioning by police, or indiscriminate traffic stops. The court heard arguments in the case in early October, review- , ing a federal appeals court ruling ' that said the Indianapolis check- , points probably amounted to un-') reasonable seizures. \ In another case involving Indi- ‘, ana checkpoints, the Indiana Ap- ', pellate Court struck down as ille- , gal the sobriety checkpoint. / The court ruled in a St. Joseph' County case that although such t roadblocks might be legal under ^ federal law, they violate Indiana’s" equivalent of the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The court ruling Tuesday said (( the roadblocks constitute unrea- M sonable, warrantless seizures un-^ der Indiana law. The state may appeal the ruling. ,

SENTENCES Continued from A1 mum sentence must be invoked: “Twenty-four years” in federal prison with no possibility of parole. Shrieks, sobs, and gasps of shock and disbelief pierced the courtroom. Mrs. Smith fainted to the floor and was picked up and carried out in the arms of her husband. Witnesses have said even,the puosecutor looked shocked. * ‘ That was five years ago. Mrs. Smith recently recalled those initial moments as “the most chilling effect I’ve ever had in my life.” But, the bang of the judge’s gavel did not end the case for this family from Glen Allen, Va., near Richmond. Instead, it began a five-year fight, a journey of faith for the Smiths that has taken them all the way from that courthouse to the White House. They have now turned to President Clinton and the U.S. Department of Justice with a request that the president grant clemency to Smith, based on an incorrect and excessive sentence, among other factors. Lawyers of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund submitted the petition on her behalf. They took on the case after the Smiths dissolved their relationship with the original defense attorneys. Momentum has ballooned the case of this young woman, now incarcerated in the Danbury Federal Correctional Center in Danbury, Conn. With national news coverage and activist parents, she has become an icon for opponents of so-called “mandatory minimum” sentences, which have caused the incarceration of thousands of first-time, non-violent drug offenders for extreme periods of time with no consideration of their non-criminal history. By simply telling Smith’s story by Web site and by word of mouth, Mr. and Mrs. Smith are constantly drumming up support for her. They have won support from the 38member Congressional Black Caucus, the Alpha Kappa Alpha and Delta Sigma Theta sororities among thousands — if not millions of people — who have now heard about the case. Letters are pouring in to the White House, asking the president to grant clemency, but more are needed, Mr. Smith said. “It feels good,” Mr. Smith said. “We’ve come a long way from where we were six years ago. A lot of ups and a lot of downs, but we always maintained our faith in the Lord. We must have patience and wait.” But, will they win Clinton ’ s support? The Smiths personally introduced themselves to the president at the Saturday dinner of the annual Black Caucus Legislative

weekend in October. “It really was a warm feeling to not introduce ourselves as Gus and Odessa Smith” per se, but “as the parents of Kemba Smith. And I saw right away that there was name recognition,” Mrs. Smith said. The new hope is refreshing for the couple, who have lost repeated appeals to federal courts in Norfolk and Richmond. “He thanked us for coming up,” Mr. Smith recalled, and “he said he was aware of tjie case. He wayvery warm, very gracious, glad )o meet us.” The Justice Department, which must make a recommendation to the president, has publicly acknowledged receipt of the request for clemency. But officials are not allowed to say when the president will announce a decision. His tenure ends in January. Meanwhile, the Smiths have vowed to continue the fight for congressional review of the socalled “mandatory minimum sentences” that have incarcerated thousands of first-time offenders for extreme periods of time with no consideration of their non-crimi-nal history. Congress re-enacted mandatory minimum sentencing laws in the mid-1980s. The laws base punishment only on the amount or alleged amount of drugs involved in the offense. A judge is not allowed to take other factors, such as behavior and criminal record into consideration. However, sentences can be minimized if the defendant were to provide information to prosecutors to be used against someone else. Appeals for Smith have consistently claimed that the sentence was excessive, that she had poor legal representation, and that she was a victim of battered woman syndrome. Their fight to change the mandatory minimum laws would not end with her release, the Smiths said. “We view this as being much larger than our daughter,” said Mr. Smith. “We want tq forge ahead and fight for justice on behalf of people just like Kemba.” Her clemency petition is “just a bend in the road," he said, adding that even Smith “wants to be an activist” on this and other issues of justice once she is free. Smith, once an AKA sorority debutante, played the piano and took ballet lessons as a child. She was drawn away from her sheltered upbringing on the Hampton University campus. There she met and was intrigued by Peter Hall, who swept her off her feet with his popularity, Jamaican accent, selfconfident manner, fine clothes and flashy cars. With Hall being the idol of droves of other women. Smith was awed by the fact that he had “chosen” her. She testified that she remained ignorant of his East Coast cocaine distribution ring that he

managed, even as the relationship v grew more and more intense. Gradually, during the two-and- ’’ a-half-year relationship, he began controlling her violently. He once'' beat her so badly that she was treated in an emergency room. She also suffered a miscarriage because of his physical abuse. The malevolent cycle of physical and mental ■' abuse continued, including his*' threats to harm her family if she did 1 not obey him. He murdered one of ‘ j his closest friends whom he thought 1 ' ' was shitchihg. ’ ' ' ' 1 ' M> In August 1994', with Hall’sper- ^ mission, Smith returned to Rich- •' mond five months pregnant with '• his son. She turned herself in to authorities after hearing that she ' had been indicted. In October that 1 year. Hall was murdered in Seattle ' before being caught by law-en-'; forcement agents. ‘ Though prosecutors acknowl- ' edged Smith never actually handled or sold drugs, she was held accountable for the entire 255 kilograms of crack cocaine distributed * by the conspiracy, even though she didn’t know Hall in 1989 when his distribution began. Smith pleaded ' guilty to conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine, money laundering '* and lying to authorities to protect’-’ Hall. Her sentence was much higher ’■ than those received by other mem-'' hers of the drug ring who admit-'' tedly sold crack cocaine. While behind bars, Smith gave birth to Hall’s son, William’ 4 Armani, now 5. He is in kindergar- J - ten and enjoyingjthe love of his' 1 grandparents, Smith’s parents, who are raising him. He knows his ' 1 mother’s story and is occasionally heard telling it to other children, »j his grandmother said. 3 Meanwhile, Smith is working«J towards her bachelor’s degree through an extension program of the University of Southern Colorado and she wants to earn a ( j master’s and doctorate, her parents ^ said. She also undergoes emotional ^ counseling, sings in a choir and j participates in a Bible study, they , said. f , In an essay written by Smith, entitled, “On the Other Side,” she n describes the mental horrors of her prison life and says her learning ^ “as much as I could about Black } history” has given her strength to .• endure the time. ( , “She’s remarkable, she has been my inspiration through this,” her\| mother said, “and she is extremely, ^ extremely grateful. ... Yes, I am j( sure something like this will leave scars on Kemba, but Kemba is very much spirit-filled, so we know with God she will make it through this.” The Smiths said if it’s one thing they would draw from their experience to tell other parents, it would be, “Stick by your child no matter what. What happened to Kemba can happen to anyone. If any of the parents think that it can’t happen togj them, they’re fooling themselves.”!