Ex-addict who turned life around faces prison: Her supporters criticize drug laws

Friday, April 1, 2005

By HECTOR CASTRO

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Today, Sherelyn Anderson's war on drugs ends.

The one-time crack addict is to be sentenced in King County Superior
Court for helping an undercover officer get $100 worth of crack cocaine
in May 2001. She made $10 on the deal.

Now, the woman who beat drugs and raises a son alone as she attends
college faces an almost certain 10 to 20 months behind bars.

To her supporters, her case is one more of harsh drug laws destroying
another life and the justice system punishing most heavily the poor and
minorities.

"I truly do believe that if she had money or access or social power, she
would not be in this situation," said Cessa Heard-Johnson, director of
the diversity and retention program at South Seattle Community College.

Recent studies have shown racial disparities in drug law enforcement.
One study by a University of Washington professor for a group of defense
attorneys found that although African Americans make up less than 9
percent of Seattle's population, they account for 64 percent of those
arrested on drug charges.

Most drug users, however, are white. Anderson is black.

Another study done for Washington counties examined drug convictions in
King County and found that black people account for nearly 50 percent of
all convictions for drug dealing. That number rises to nearly 70 percent
of all drug dealing involving cocaine.

Mark Larson, chief criminal deputy prosecutor in the King County
Prosecutor's Office, said Anderson's case is not one of racial
disparity.

"We made an offer to her which was almost unprecedented," he said. "The
real story is: Why did she turn that down? I don't know the answer to
that."

Anderson said the answer is simple: She is innocent. Anderson's
supporters include lawyers, community activists and educators. That
number grew when she discussed her story at a City Hall forum last month
on drug-law enforcement.

"She's a perfect example of someone who was able to get her act
together," said City Councilman Nick Licata, who sponsored the forum.
"It seems such a shame to focus punishment on her when her behavior is
exactly what we want to see being emulated out there."

According to court documents, the charges stem from an incident on May
11, 2001.

An undercover officer with the South Snohomish County Narcotics Task
Force investigating drug dealing made a drug purchase through a woman he
later identified as Anderson.

The officer said Anderson arranged for him to buy $100 of crack cocaine,
less than a gram. Anderson, 46, admits to a drug addiction that spanned
years and began in her mid-20s. It was an addiction that led to her to
steal, lie and sell her body for drugs or cash to buy drugs.

There were periods when she managed to get out of that lifestyle.

Once, it was because she met a man she intended to marry. But in July
1996, he died in an accident, falling into the Sauk River near Granite
Falls and drowning.

His death threw Anderson into a deep despair, and she returned to crack.
"I didn't want to remember what I saw," she said.

Two months' pregnant at the time with her fiance's child, Anderson did
stay away from crack long enough for the baby, a girl, to be born
without drugs in her system.

Afterward, however, a chance meeting with an acquaintance and drug user
led her back to crack.

When she turned her daughter over to her mother to care for, her grief
grew worse, and her drug use increased.

"I couldn't deal with the pain of losing him and losing her," she said.

But then came another pregnancy, and Anderson said she decided she'd had
enough.

She entered intensive drug treatment at Swedish Medical Center under a
program for pregnant women. From there, she began outpatient treatment
at the perinatal treatment services program, which also focuses on
treating pregnant women and mothers of young children.

By August 2002, Anderson had been clean for more than year. She found an
apartment in West Seattle for her and her young son, enrolled in classes
at South Seattle Community College and got a part-time job.

Those who knew her on campus said she is an intelligent, driven student.

"This woman could be a lawyer, this woman could be a doctor. She has a
sharp mind," Heard-Johnson said.

In February 2003, Anderson had completed her first semester and was
beginning a second when she received a letter from the King County
Prosecutor's Office. She was being charged with a crime prosecutors say
she had committed almost two years earlier. "I didn't even know what
they were talking about," Anderson said.

For reasons that remain unclear, police did not arrest Anderson just
after the May 2001 incident.

And at her first court appearance in February 2003, she was released on
her own recognizance.

Immediately, Anderson said, she was offered a deal: plead guilty, and
the sentence would be reduced.

"I said, 'I'm not plea bargaining to this. I didn't do it,' " Anderson
said.

The trial date was changed almost three dozen times as discussions
between Anderson's lawyer, Jeannette Brinster, and prosecutors
continued. At one point, Larson intervened and personally reviewed the
case.

He says he took into account Anderson's efforts to reform and offered to
move the case to King County Drug Court.

Through that program, Anderson could have had the case dismissed had she
undergone drug treatment and demonstrated to a judge that she was drug
free, Larson said.

The offer was made, he said, even though people accused of dealing drugs
are not eligible for drug court.

"She presented some significant changes in her life which were fairly
positive," Larson said.

He was puzzled when Anderson turned down the offer.

"It's unusual for someone to turn down Drug Court and have their case go
to trial," he said. "I think she made a terrible decision."

But Anderson said the treatment program would have meant giving up
school and, besides that, she had already successfully completed
treatment.

A series of deals was offered, including one that would have involved
home detention. Anderson turned them all down and took her chances at
trial.

In November, a jury, after deliberating less than an hour, found her
guilty of delivering a controlled substance.

Anderson refuses to give up. She plans to appeal the conviction.

"I have already said who I am. I have fought this for two years," she
said. "I've already changed my life, and they've said that's not good
enough."

Brinster said she took the conviction almost harder than Anderson.

"It's really one of those cases that's bothered me a lot," she said. "It
seems like the laws shouldn't be used to destroy somebody who has done so much to improve their lives, and that's what they're doing."

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P-I reporter Hector Castro can be reached at 206-903-5396 or
hectorcastro@seattlepi.com

SOURCE: Seattle Post-Intelligencer