Two years ago, Antonio McIntosh, originally from Brooklyn, N.Y., was led away to federal prison with a 35-year sentence for dealing crack cocaine in this city.

On Wednesday, he left federal court again, but this time with 26 years less time to serve.

McIntosh and co-conspirator Domonique Haynes, originally of Philadelphia, appealed their May 2006 convictions, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office offered to have the case returned to U.S. Middle District Court here for a hearing.

But the hearing never took place because the government presented both men with a plea offer that substantially reduced the amount of prison time.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office has never fully explained why it opted to offer a plea agreement instead of conduct a hearing.

Some court sources have said the nine- and eight-year sentences the two face still are significant.  But others suggest it was a likely way to keep the process from getting complicated by the state prosecution of two former city police officers who were involved in the McIntosh-Haynes investigation and who now face unrelated corruption charges brought by a state grand jury.

Former Lt. Thomas Ungard and former Cpl. Dustin Kreitz have surfaced as targets in other appeals. But, during McIntosh’s sentencing before U.S. Senior Judge James F. McClure, defense attorney Andrew Shubin mentioned Kreitz by name as he argued that a pre-sentence report should be disregarded because it relied on findings from the jury trial during which Kreitz was a witness.

Shubin alleged the trial was tainted by misconduct, but Assistant U.S. Attorney John McCann argued there is no proof of trial misconduct by anyone, including the suspended officers.

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By Alyssa Owens

Although an extensive debate between Penn State Judicial Affairs and Olivia Guevara ended last week, the motives behind her prosecution are still being questioned.

Over the past five months, Guevara, a graduate student in the department of labor, has repeatedly challenged Penn State’s decision to prosecute her for vandalism and accused the university of singling her out to squelch her anti-sweatshop activism.

The battle has grown to involve 48 professors, labor departments from other universities, labor unions, concerned students from across the country and a local attorney who said Guevara’s First Amendment rights were at risk.

The charges stem from an incident on Sept. 27, when Guevara and several other activists chalked anti-sweatshop messages on several university buildings, including Old Main. Criminal charges against Guevara were dismissed because of a lack of evidence. However, Judicial Affairs asked for damage fees and issued a seven-year citation on her academic record.

Penn State officials have maintained that Guevara’s Judicial Affairs hearing was fair and that her prosecution was solely a matter of vandalism.

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By Kristen Huth

Collegian Staff Writer

Last night, a national organization aiming to reform marijuana laws hosted its first Rally in the Valley discussion in 101 Thomas to raise awareness about legal concerns involving marijuana.

“We want to inform people about this issue and have some positive conversations about the marijuana issue,” Jason Bundy, co-president of the National Organization for the Reformation of Marijuana Laws (NORML), said.

Bundy told about 30 people that NORML is a resource for those who need legal advice, as well as an organization that promotes legislation to reform marijuana laws.

Andrew Shubin, a criminal defense attorney, was present to give legal advice concerning marijuana laws.

Shubin explained that a school zone has much harsher consequences for felonies than any other area.

“If you are within 1,000 feet of any part of Penn State University, whether it’s the 18th hole of the golf course, a garage that Penn State owns, the high school or a playground, that’s a school zone,” he said. “That’s basically all of State College.”

The mandatory minimum sentence for possession of marijuana is two to four years in a school zone, compared to probation to one month anywhere else, Shubin said.

“That’s the difference one foot can make,” he said.

Shubin gave advice on what to do if confronted by a police officer.

“Be courteous. … The first thing you should do is assert your right to counsel,” he said. “And without your consent, an officer needs a warrant to search your house.”

A big topic of the discussion was the use of student informants in drug busts.

Sam Richards, senior lecturer in sociology, said that a petition opposing the use of student informants in drug busts

was circulated among faculty members in the early ’90s, and only about 5 percent of the faculty did not sign it.

“It’s just not the kind of campus you want to create,” he said.

Shubin said the biggest problem at Penn State is not marijuana, but rather alcohol abuse and its “collateral crimes,” such as domestic abuse and drunk driving.

Nick Drewchin (freshman-economics) said that “everyone from Graham Spanier to the middle school kids at Mount Nittany … knows that kids in the frats get wasted, and then sexual assault happens.”

Richards said one of the concerns with the legality of marijuana is that there is not a national discussion about it.

“If I asked you how much marijuana is takes to get high, no one would know,” he said. “But we could all probably agree on how many drinks it takes to get drunk.”

Bundy said the idea that no amount of marijuana is lethal could be dangerous without any guidance.

“If you know no amount is toxic, how do you set your limits?” he said.

Bundy said that marijuana laws are based on “the worst of us, not the most of us.”

“There is a difference between use and abuse,” he said, adding that the group does not promote abuse.

Criminal charges were dropped after the convention. Activists called the situation unfair, a double standard.

By Daryl Lang

Collegian Staff Writer

Penn State is considering whether to punish three students who refused police orders to leave a university building during a July protest, the students said yesterday.

The students said the situation is unfair because their case has already been heard in court and the criminal charges against them were all dismissed.

“It’s just a pathetic attempt to try to pin something on us,” said Justin Leto (senior-computer engineering), who organized the protest.

The protest is the third recent incident in which Penn State’s Office of Judicial Affairs has taken on a controversial legal matter, including a case when the office declined to punish a football player charged with assault.

Penn State spokesman Bill Mahon said yesterday that the university’s judicial process concerns whether students broke a university rule, something separate from a criminal charge.

The three student demonstrators — Leto, Robyn Stephens (senior-sociology) and Michelle Yates (junior-women’s studies) — each were called to meet with the director of judicial affairs. The meetings took place over the last two weeks.

Each declined to admit any wrongdoing and will have their case decided at judicial hearings that have yet to be scheduled.

Working as a group called “Redirection 2000″, the students waved signs and banners on July 10 to protest the failure of the National Governors’ Association Annual Meeting to respond to the menu of causes they support.

Several students climbed through a second-floor window in order to hang a sign on a balcony facing a governors event at the HUB-Robeson Center. Penn State Police Services ordered the students to leave and arrested five of them.

“Being on the ledge wasn’t something the university approved of, and it wasn’t safe,” said Mahon, who said he was present at the demonstration.

After their arrest, police charged all five students with “defiant trespass.”

At a July 20 preliminary hearing, District Justice Daniel Hoffman dismissed all the charges against the demonstrators.

But recently, three of the students were called before Joseph Puzycki, Penn State’s director of judicial affairs, for disciplinary action.

Penn State accused Leto, Stephens and Yates of “failure to comply with a directive” and “unauthorized use of university buildings/facilities,” the students said in a statement.

Penn State never figured out who the other two arrested demonstrators were, Leto said.

Puzycki allowed State College attorney Andy Shubin, who is representing the students free of charge, to sit in on one of the meetings, Shubin said.

Shubin wonders why the university keeps pursuing the case even after court testimony July 20 from Penn State University Relations Executive Director Steve MacCarthy. The students said MacCarthy had given them permission to be in the building.

“What’s upsetting here is that the university’s official and the top guy on the scene has already testified under oath,” Shubin said. “That testimony essentially exonerates them from any wrongdoing. . . . Of course, the university is a large institution and maybe the left hand isn’t talking to the right hand.”

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By Mandy Hofmockel

Collegian Staff Writer

Penn State Judicial Affairs will not sanction The Daily Collegian photographer Michael Felletter after he was charged in connection with the Oct. 25 riot, a result his attorney said showed the university “understood the prominent First Amendment issues involved.”

Andrew Shubin, a private attorney acting on behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), attended Felletter’s Judicial Affairs conference Wednesday and said the university issued no sanctions and found no violations against the photographer.

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What follows is the Order of the United States District Court, Middle District of Pennsylvania, granting the defendant’s motion to suppress physical evidence.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER. December 22, 2006

THE BACKGROUND OF THIS ORDER IS AS FOLLOWS:
Pending before the Court are various suppression motions filed by the above-named Defendants in this action. The pending motions are as follows: Defendant Leon Glaspie’s Motion to Suppress (doc. 49) filed on December 1, 2005; Defendant Jerome George’s Motion to Suppress (doc. 66) filed on February 23, 2006; Defendant Leon Glaspie’s Supplemental Suppression Motion (doc. 87) filed on March 17, 2006; Defendant Jerome George’s Supplemental Suppression Motion (doc. 102) filed on April 4, 2006 and; Defendant Leon Glaspie’s Second Supplemental Motion to Suppress (doc. 109) filed on April 17, 2006.
By previous Order of Court dated October 10, 2006 we granted Defendant Markeif Fields’ and Jerome Georges’ individual Motions to join in their co-Defendant Leon Glaspie’s suppression motions. (Rec. Doc. 242).

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From Voices of Central Pennsylvania
By Zac Taylor

Harrisburg’s political will to be tough on drug dealers in school zones has turned into a veritable industry of snitches in Centre County, especially in the area in and around Penn State University.
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Criminal charges filed against a Penn State graduate student accused of damaging several university buildings with chalked anti-sweatshop messages were dropped yesterday afternoon. (more…)

PLEASANT GAP, Pa. — As an American, you have the right to mow your lawn in the nude, a state superior court has ruled. (more…)