James Caswell

First-time offenders get maximum sentences

By Trish Choate/Times Record News
December 2, 2004

Dwindling tolerance for methamphetamine in North Texas spurred a Montague County jury Wednesday to throw the book at a man with no prior convictions, attorneys said.

A Bowie man who was a store supervisor with $50,000 in savings before he became involved in drugs isn't the only meth offender to get a stiff sentence lately in North Texas, Montague County and Wichita County attorneys said. In an emerging trend, juries are cracking down on meth offenders.

"The pendulum swings on jury verdicts and attitudes," Bob Estrada, defense attorney, said. "And right now, we're going into a period of time when methamphetamine cases are tough cases to take to a jury."

The Wichita Falls attorney should know.

His client, James Caswell, 46, of Bowie was sentenced Wednesday to 99 years in prison and a $10,000 fine for one count of manufacturing meth on Oct. 23, 2003. Caswell faces three other pending meth charges.

Jurors are likely responding to what appears in the news media and to meth's affect on their lives, attorneys said.

"I think everybody's been touched to some degree," Wichita County Assistant District Attorney Rick Mahler said. "Associated crimes are way up ... It's difficult to write a check in a restaurant anymore because nobody will take your check."

And that's because of meth, often as not the driving force behind forgery, burglary and identity theft, attorneys said.

Just a few weeks ago, a Wichita County jury handed down a tough sentence to a man who - like Caswell - had no prior record.

Don Marshall Horton, 32, was sentenced Nov. 19 to the maximum punishment for three counts of manufacturing meth Oct. 26, 2003, March 27 and April 19, according to previous Times Record News reports. Horton received three concurrent 99-year prison terms and a $150,000 fine. He will be eligible for parole in 15 years.

Law enforcement officers called Horton one of the county's biggest meth producers, according to previous TRN reports. Bowie police officers had similar beliefs about Caswell, saying the Oct. 23, 2003, meth bust was one of their biggest in 10 years.

Wednesday, a seven-woman and five-man jury took about 90 minutes to decide Caswell would get maximum punishment, Assistant 97th District Attorney Jack McGaughey said. At the start of his trial Monday, he pleaded guilty in the Montague County Courthouse to one count of meth manufacturing.

"We never plea-bargained with him," McGaughey said.

Prosecutors wanted to see what the jury would do, McGaughey said. They expected Caswell would get hard time, although the jury could have given him probation. Prosecutors were happy with the results. They will decide whether to try Caswell separately on the other meth charges he faces, but they might not have much reason to do so now.

Caswell and Marta Buck, 46, of Bowie were arrested Oct. 29 and later charged with conspiracy to manufacture meth in connection with an earlier incident. Caswell and Buck have been held in jail since on a $1 million bond each.

Caswell was once a responsible citizen who supervised more than 65 people at Level Food Center in Bowie, his defense attorney said.

"At 42, a little over four years ago, the man had never even had a traffic ticket," Estrada said. "You're talking about somebody whose life experiences were admirable until he got mixed in with methamphetamine and with the methamphetamine crowd."

Caswell could be eligible for probation in less than eight years.

Estrada said he thinks society should put more resources into treatment than incarceration.

"Are we going to win the battle giving people 99 years? No ...," Mahler said. "But we have to keep doing that to make it as tough as possible."

Texas prosecutors are working on legislation to be presented at the next legislative session. It's modeled after an Oklahoma law approved in the spring.

The anti-drug law honors three Oklahoma Highway Patrol troopers killed in the line of duty, including Cotton County's Nikky Green, according to previous TRN reports. Green was killed in December 2003 when checking on a man suspected of cooking meth.

The Oklahoma law made specific medicines containing pseudoephedrine available only through a doctor's prescription. They must be behind the counter at pharmacies, and anyone buying them has to show identification.

Senior Writer Trish Choate can be reached at (940) 763-7533, (800) 627-1646, Ext. 533, or via e-mail at choatet(at)TimesRecordNews.com.

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