ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, March 18, 1997 TAG: 9703180057
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
``Trying gang members separately is not an efficient use of our commonwealth's limited resources,'' Allen said.
Gov. George Allen signed legislation Monday allowing the state to try drug gang members together instead of separately - a change he said will save money and encourage witness cooperation.
Sen. Kenneth Stolle of Virginia Beach, one of four candidates for the Republican nomination for attorney general, sponsored the bill.
``Trying gang members separately is not an efficient use of our commonwealth's limited resources,'' Allen said. ``Our law enforcement authorities shouldn't have to persuade a key witness to testify multiple times in multiple trials, all involving the same criminal activity and the same evidence.''
Drug gang members already can be tried jointly in the federal courts. Stolle, a former narcotics detective, recalled that he ``watched with frustration as Virginia was forced to send violent drug gangs ... to the federal court system for heinous crimes perpetrated on our own families.''
The Virginia College of Criminal Defense Attorneys and the American Civil Liberties Union opposed the bill.
Allen signed the legislation at the site of the Jan. 12, 1994, slayings of three men. Three members of a New York-based drug gang, the ``Poison Clan,'' were indicted.
LENGTH: Short : 38 linesby CNB