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Kentucky passes HB 463 and

Texas passes one to Willie.

Christopher Hignite

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Slideshow: Willie Nelson gets a
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Kentucky becomes the latest state to reign in corrections costs

by enacting sentencing reforms. Not to be outdone, a Texas
county has gotten creative with drug sentencing in the case of
Willie Nelson.

Governor Steve Beshear signed Kentucky's HB 463 into law on

March 3. "This overhaul of Kentucky's penal code is the result
of a multi-year effort involving members of the executive,
legislative and judicial branches," said Gov. Beshear. "Over the
Video:
last threeWillie
years,Nelson
we'veendorses
made headway with aggressive efforts
Gatewood/Riley 2011
to bring common sense to Kentucky's penal code, and our
prison population has dropped each of the past three years.
House Bill 463 helps us be tough on crime, while being smart
on crime."

Kentucky's law calls for probation for small time drug

possession charges. It also calls for drug treatment to be made
available. The law reduces penalties for small time drug dealing
while increasing penalties for large-scale trafficking. It also
decreases the drug free zone from 1000 yards to 1000 feet.

"Today, if you sell half a gram of rock cocaine, that's a Class C

felony," said Van Ingram, director of the Kentucky Office of
Drug Control Policy. "When the new law goes into effect in 90
days, you will have to sell more than four grams to get Class C.
That means instead of a five-to-ten-year sentence, you'll be
looking at one-to-five," he told the Chronicle.

The new law lowers possession of less than an ounce of

marijuana from a Class A misdemeanor worth up to a year in
jail to a Class B misdemeanor with a maximum sentence of 45
days in jail, if any jail sentence is imposed.
 Galbraith/Dea Riley team for Kentucky
Governor in 2011. Willie and Gatewood
are friends and have collaborated for
years on legalizing marijuana and/or
hemp.
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In November, Willie Nelson was pulled over at a Border Patrol
checkpoint in Hudspeth County, Texas. Officers smelled
marijuana and when a search of the tour bus was performed,
they found 6.2 ounces of weed.
According to the Big Bend Sentinel, the case is about to be
resolved in a very creative way. The Hudspeth County attorney
has decided to make a plea deal with Willie.
“I’m gonna let him plead, pay a small fine and he’s gotta sing
“Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain” with his guitar right there in the
courtroom,” County Attorney Kit Bramblett said this week. “You
bet your ass I ain’t gonna be mean to Willie Nelson.”
Bramblett oversees 10 to 12 personal use case per month. The
6.24 ounces that Willie Nelson was caught with is above the
amount Bramblett can handle in his jurisdiction. Bramblett has
found a way around this...
“Between me and the sheriff, we threw out enough of it or
smoked enough so that there’s only three ounces, which is
within my jurisdiction,” Bramblett said.
I'm not sure how much of that was a joke or not but I know that
our overcrowded prisons are no laughing matter. Kentucky's
prison population has increased fourfold in the past two
decades, from 5,000 in 1990 to more than 20,000 now. Drug
offenders account for 25% of the prison population, but 38% of
inmates admitted since 2000.
"House Bill 463 is landmark legislation not only for the positive
changes it proposes for our penal code, but also for the manner
in which it became law," said Speaker Greg Stumbo. "Anytime
you can bring together as many diverse groups as this bill did,
and have them agree, you're on to something special. Rep.
John Tilley and Sen. Tom Jensen did a tremendous job in
getting this bill to the finish line."
"I'm pleased we're making progress in tackling the problems
facing our penal code," Chief Justice of Kentucky John D.
Minton Jr. said. "With all three branches involved in this
deliberative process, I'm confident that the outcome will be
positive for Kentucky."

"Of all the problems I inherited, this is one of the most

complex," Gov. Beshear said. "In early 2008, I directed Justice
& Public Safety Secretary J. Michael Brown to convene the
Criminal Justice Council and report back on recommendations
for curbing the rising prison population. That report, and the
work of subsequent work groups, provided the groundwork for
much of these reforms."

"This bill takes major steps to both decrease recidivism while

addressing the unique problems Kentucky faces with
substance abuse in ways that absolutely enhance public
safety," said Brown.

Kentucky's HB 463 is a start to ending prohibition and the

inherent costs to society and corruption it brings. Maybe soon
we can follow in the footsteps of Hudspeth County, Texas?

Maybe Gatewood Galbraith could represent Willie Nelson in

Lexington and we'll all get treated to a duo of "The Green,
Green Grass of Home". That's one concert I wouldn't want to
miss.

Copyright ©Christopher Hignite 2010 All Rights Reserved. Feel

free to copy and promote this article on any site. Please
provide a link to the original article.

By Christopher Hignite

Christopher Hignite, a regular contributor to various

news sites, is a photographer and independent
journalist in Lexington, KY. A former small...Read
more

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