WOMAN GIVEN LIFE TERM FOR 1ST DRUG OFFENSE FREED

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - A woman who was sentenced to life without parole for a
first-time drug offense was released yesterday after spending five years in
prison.

About two hours after a judge reduced her sentence to time served, Theresa
Wilson, 34, walked out of the Jefferson County Jail, arm-in-arm with her
husband.

Wilson was ordered to spend the rest of her life in prison because of a law
that branded her a "drug baron" when she sold a morphine mixture for $150.
The 1986 law required the sentence because the mixture weighed more than 56
grams. The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals ruled 3-2 last year that the
life sentence for a first drug offense was cruel and unusual punishment,
sending the case back for a new sentence.