
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, May 4, 1993                   TAG: 9305040318
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

DRUG PROSECUTOR MOVING ON IN 2 YEARS, THINGS NOT BETTER OR WORSE

After spending the past two years prosecuting hundreds of drug dealers, Melvin Hill is stepping down from his position as the Roanoke Valley's regional drug prosecutor.

Hill will go into private practice after May 28, his last day on the job.

"Prosecution is not something I've wanted to make a career of," said Hill, who also has served as Hill assistant commonwealth's attorney in Roanoke and Campbell County.

Hill estimated he has handled more than 1,000 cases in the past two years - almost all of them involving crack cocaine.

But instead of dealing with kingpins and kilograms, Hill has spent most of his time prosecuting small-time, street dealers.

Although major drug suppliers usually are tried in federal court where the punishment is tougher, Hill said street peddlers are the front line of the drug trade and need to be treated accordingly.

"You can't ignore the street-level drug dealers, because they pose such problems to people" in crack-blighted neighborhoods, he said.

Asked to assess Roanoke's drug problem over the past two years, Hill said: "I don't think that it's better or worse; I don't think it's changed much."

One disturbing development is that crack dealers - predominantly young black males - are entering the trade at a younger age in an effort to escape poverty and other social problems, Hill said.

Putting those people in prison "is still a short-term solution," he said.

Hill believes that law enforcement alone can never solve the drug problem in Roanoke. Equal time needs to be devoted to anti-drug education, and to treating the addicts who fail to get the message, he said.

No one has been appointed yet to replace Hill, who is the second person to fill a state-funded position created four years ago. Hill said he is "fairly certain" that an annual $86,000 grant will be renewed to cover the office's costs.

The bulk of Hill's work has been in Roanoke Circuit Court, although the position also covers Salem and Franklin and Craig counties.

During Hill's two years as regional drug prosecutor, the position was expanded to allow him to assist in cases brought in federal court.

His tenure also was marked by some of the city's toughest jury sentences - maximum terms of 40 years in prison for cases that involved relatively small amounts of crack.

by CNB