Ruling in Hardin Case Will Change Drug Courts
November 21, 2007
The News-Enterprise
FRANKFORT — Drug courts across Kentucky will no longer be allowed to slap stiff, sometimes maximum penalties on clients who fail the alternative-to-jail program, the Kentucky Supreme Court ruled Wednesday.
Defendants from Hardin County, some of whom were sentenced to more than a year in jail for marijuana possession and other drug-related charges after failing to successfully complete drug court, appealed their cases last year.
The court took arguments from Shane Young, a local attorney representing the defendants, and First Assistant Hardin County Attorney Jenny Pitts a few weeks ago and ruled on the appeal Wednesday.
Young said "a bunch of people will get out" of jail and policies of drug court will change because of the court's ruling.
"In a nutshell, they're saying you can't make people take a maximum penalty if they can't complete drug court," Young said.
Pitts, who had not seen the opinion when contacted Wednesday, said the ruling would not doom the Drug Court program. | 
