Freaktan
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An Otis teenager has been acquitted of dealing marijuana in a case stemming from a controversial arrest that could have landed him in jail for two years.
Kyle Sawin, 18, was found innocent Friday of three counts each of distribution of marijuana and of committing a drug violation in a drug-free school zone.
Prosecutors say Sawin was selling drugs to an undercover police officer in a Great Barrington parking lot that was located within a school zone. Selling drugs within 1,000 feet of a school carries a two-year mandatory minimum prison sentence.
One school is located about 175 paces from the parking lot; another is about a four-minute walk away, at the bottom of a hill down a side street. Both schools were closed for the summer when Sawin was arrested for selling enough marijuana to roll about three joints.
A jury deadlocked on the case when Sawin was first tried in July. District Attorney David Capeless pushed for a retrial despite opposition from some community members who said charging Sawin - who had no prior criminal record - with the school zone violation was unfair. Sixteen others who were arrested with Sawin in last year's parking lot drug bust are still awaiting trial.
Newshawk: Freaktan - 420Times.com
Source: The Worcester Telegram
Copyright: 2005 Worcester Telegram & Gazette and The Associated Press
Contact: letters@telegram.com
Website: https://www.telegram.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050926/APN/509260886
Author: Staff - Worcester Telegram and The Associated Press
Kyle Sawin, 18, was found innocent Friday of three counts each of distribution of marijuana and of committing a drug violation in a drug-free school zone.
Prosecutors say Sawin was selling drugs to an undercover police officer in a Great Barrington parking lot that was located within a school zone. Selling drugs within 1,000 feet of a school carries a two-year mandatory minimum prison sentence.
One school is located about 175 paces from the parking lot; another is about a four-minute walk away, at the bottom of a hill down a side street. Both schools were closed for the summer when Sawin was arrested for selling enough marijuana to roll about three joints.
A jury deadlocked on the case when Sawin was first tried in July. District Attorney David Capeless pushed for a retrial despite opposition from some community members who said charging Sawin - who had no prior criminal record - with the school zone violation was unfair. Sixteen others who were arrested with Sawin in last year's parking lot drug bust are still awaiting trial.
Newshawk: Freaktan - 420Times.com
Source: The Worcester Telegram
Copyright: 2005 Worcester Telegram & Gazette and The Associated Press
Contact: letters@telegram.com
Website: https://www.telegram.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050926/APN/509260886
Author: Staff - Worcester Telegram and The Associated Press
