Feature Story:
Baseball Legend Willie Mays Aikens Released Under Retroactivity Amendment
By Zerline Jennings
Willie Mays Aikens, former first baseman for the Kansas City Royals, made baseball history when he became the first player to have a pair of two-homer games in the 1980 World Series. Years later he made another kind of history when a longstanding addiction to cocaine ended his baseball career and ultimately led to a nearly 21-year sentence for selling crack cocaine to an undercover officer. Finally, in 2008, he again made headlines when a federal judge reduced his lengthy prison term to 14 years as a result of the U.S. Sentencing Commission's recent adjustment to the crack cocaine sentencing guidelines. Aikens was released in June.
"They used my case as an example to show that crack sentencing was cruel and unusual punishment," said Aikens in an interview with WHNS-TV in South Carolina. "I'm glad that after spending 14 years in prison, something good came out of this."
Sentencing reform advocates utilized Aikens' story to illustrate the unjust sentencing and racial disparities between crack and powder cocaine. After being convicted of attempting to purchase cocaine in 1983, his addiction eventually led to his suspension from major league baseball. He returned to Kansas City, after playing ball in Mexico, but continued to battle his addiction, which was quickly ruining his personal life as it had done his baseball career.
Kansas City authorities were aware of Aikens' involvement with drugs. In December 1993, a female undercover officer established a friendship with Aikens and subsequently asked him to obtain crack cocaine for her on several occasions. On at least one occasion, the undercover officer specifically asked him to cook powder cocaine into crack cocaine.
Entrapment and Mandatory Minimums
With this evidence, the U.S. Attorney's office charged Aikens with multiple counts of trafficking crack cocaine. Because of harsher sentencing penalties for using and dealing crack, his sentence for selling 2.2 ounces of crack cocaine was treated as though equivalent to selling 15 pounds of powder cocaine.
Click here to read more. | | | | Editor's Note:
Welcome to the inaugural edition of the Crack the Disparity Coalition's quarterly e-newsletter. We unveil this publication on an important day, the 22nd anniversary of Len Bias' death - a young man at the apex of a promising basketball career, whose drug overdose fueled the passage of the harsh sentencing law this coalition seeks to change.
This newsletter is designed to maintain the momentum that is propelling reform by keeping advocates updated on news and events related to eliminating the crack cocaine disparity. This newsletter can also be accessed at www.crackthedisparity.com where additional advocacy resources and information can be found. | | | Crack Cocaine Reform - The Struggle Continues
 By Nkechi Taifa, Esq.
In 1994, the U.S. Sentencing Commission issued a call for public comment on laws creating a differential in sentencing between crack and powder cocaine offenses. The federal law, passed after the cocaine-induced death of basketball star Len Bias, requires a mandatory minimum five year sentence for a first time offender's simple possession of five grams of crack cocaine. It takes trafficking in 100 times as much powder cocaine - 500 grams - to trigger the same five year sentence. This has come to be known as the 100:1 quantity disparity between crack and powder cocaine. Click here to read more.
| | Crack Cocaine Legislative Update By Kara Gotsch
Since the judiciary subcommittees on crime in the U.S. House and Senate held hearings on crack cocaine sentencing reform in February, legislative momentum has slowed in Congress. Even with a total of seven reform bills pending, no committee has held a vote on the bills and none are currently planned. Now is the time to remind Congress that their constituents demand a fairer sentencing structure that eliminates the quantity disparity between crack and powder cocaine and limits the excessive penalties for low-level drug offenses. Public pressure is essential to garner Congress's support for reform and move legislation along. Click here to read more.
| | Grassroots Agenda: June, July, August By Calli Schiller
As Congress prepares to adjourn for the July 4th and August recesses, now is an excellent time for you to plan grassroots activities centered in the legislators' home-districts. While some Members of Congress (MOC) use these recesses to vacation with their families, many legislators are working in their district offices. This presents an excellent opportunity for in-district meetings, town-hall meetings and site visits. Click here to read more. | | A Theological Basis for Ending the Sentencing Disparity  By Bill Mefford
The Faith in Action Criminal Justice Reform Working Group, which I co-lead, is made up of faith organizations from across the religious and political spectrums. Groups came together to help achieve passage of the Second Chance Act -- a bill providing assistance for prisoners' reentry -- and we found a number of other issues on which we share values. Our goal is to bring crucial reforms to the criminal justice system and we have identified the current crack and powder cocaine sentencing disparity as grossly unjust and in long overdue need of change.
With 2.3 million people currently incarcerated in the United States, and the numbers only climbing, communities are not safer and the flow of drugs into our communities has not been curbed. Long mandatory minimum sentences deny both judicial discretion as well as necessary treatment for those who suffer from addiction as the root cause of their criminal behavior. Click here to read more. | | Save the Date  July 12-17: 99th Annual Convention of the NAACP in Cincinnati, OH (featuring workshops on crack cocaine reform and practice)
July 23-27: UNITY Journalists of Color 4th Quadrennial Convention and Career Fair, Chicago, IL (featuring workshop on draconian sentencing laws)
July 26-August 2, 2008: National Bar Association 83rd Annual Convention and Exhibits, Houston, TX
September 24-27, 2008: Congressional Black Caucus Foundation 38th Annual Legislative Conference, Washington, D.C.
September 26-September 28, 2008: Critical Resistance 10th Anniversary Celebration and International Conference and Strategy Session, Oakland, CA
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The Crack the Disparity Coalition includes the American Bar Association,
American Civil Liberties Union, Break the Chains, Drug Policy Alliance,
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People,
National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Open Society Policy Center, Restoring Dignity, Inc., Students for Sensible Drug Policy, The Sentencing Project, and United Methodist Church, General Board of Church and Society. | | |
