Nashville Case Highlights Drug-Free School Zone Reform Efforts

NASHVILLE, TN -- In 2008, Calvin Bryant made a 15-year mistake. The 22-year-old sold 320 pills, primarily ecstasy, to a long-time family friend -- who reminded Bryant “he had helped raise him” and insisted he needed drugs to earn money to feed his family -- from his home in Nashville's Edgehill Housing Projects. But, unbeknownst to Bryant, that man, who had dozens of felony convictions to his name, was working as an informant for the Metro Nashville Police in exchange for $1,070 and a deal on his latest arrest.

Bryant testified at trial he felt pressured by the informant and that he kept trying to back out, but the informant would repeatedly remind him how he'd helped to raise him. Bryant said he tried to put the informant off but that he kept "coming on the scene." Eventually, Bryant told the informant he was done acting as facilitator.

But it was too late.

Bryant -- a well-liked and respected Tennessee State University student who was a crucial part of two state championship football teams at Hillsboro High School, where he was nicknamed "Fridge" and was recruited by a number of SEC schools to play fullback -- was arrested and charged with violating Tennessee's drug-free school zone law.

After two trials -- the jury deadlocked in the first, with some jurors saying they believed Bryant was entrapped; he was convicted in the re-trial -- Bryant was sentenced under the 1995 law, which bumps up drug convictions a full felony class. Bryant was sentenced to 17 years in prison and would not be eligible for parole until he'd served 15.

Calvin Bryant, a man who had no criminal record, whose crime was non-violent, is still in jail nine years later. Under Tennessee's sentencing guidelines, he would already be back home if he'd committed, among other things, rape or second-degree murder.

But Calvin Bryant isn't giving up. Calvin Bryant is fighting for his release.

A well-intentioned law with unintended consequences

As the crack epidemic and fears of rising crime rates gripped America's cities in the 1980s and early 1990s, many states undertook law-and-order reforms. It was the era of the mandatory minimum. Tennessee, like many other states, adopted a law in 1995 aimed at keeping drugs and the violence associated with drug-dealing away from schools and parks.

The state's Drug-Free School Zone Law enhances the sentence of anyone selling drugs within 1,000 feet of a public or private school, preschool, day care, public library, recreational center or park, regardless of whether children are present or if the offender is in a private home that happens to be within that radius. It's irrelevant under the law if the offense is violent or even if the offender knew he was in a prohibited zone.

The push for reform

In the last decade or so, drug-free school zone laws have come under increased scrutiny from criminal justice reform advocates, think tanks across the political spectrum, judges and lawmakers. Only two other states besides Tennessee still enhance sentences by a full felony class for violations.

Seven states apply an exception to sales that are conducted inside private homes unless children are actually present. Others have given judges the ability to waive the mandatory minimum requirements for cause.

One of the most sweeping reforms came in Indiana under a bill signed into law by then Gov. Mike Pence. The Hoosier State reduced the applicable radius from 1,000 to 500 feet, eliminated the zones around public housing complexes and added a requirement that a minor must reasonably be expected to be present when the drug offense occurs.

Though Tennessee's legislature has not adopted any reforms, the state's highest court has ruled that the mandatory minimum does not apply in cases, like Bryant's, of facilitation. Had he been convicted later, his sentence would have been far shorter.

One of the primary objections raised to the law is that it in dense urban centers - like Nashville - nearly every patch of habitable land is covered by the law, while in wealthier suburbs, virtually nowhere is.

Furthermore and as a result, an overwhelming number of convictions are of the poor and people of color. In a brief, Bryant's attorney Daniel Horwitz noted that 62 people have been convicted in Davidson County for violating the law since 1995, 90 percent of whom were people of color and 78 percent of whom were African-American. Bryant is the only person in Davidson County convicted under the law as a first-time offender.

Since his 2014 election, Nashville's District Attorney-General Glenn Funk has changed his office's policy on prosecuting the offense. Funk declined to comment on the Bryant case specifically, but, through a spokesperson, said only one drug-free school zone case has been taken to the grand jury during his tenure and that "his policy is to only submit cases in which school children are placed in danger by the activity of the defendant."

In an op-ed published statewide, Funk has said "This enhancement puts street level drug-free school zone act violations on par with second degree murder. The idea that this law keeps school kids safe is a myth, all it accomplishes is the destruction of communities."

In 2014, the Davidson County grand jury wrote "The decision to seek increased penalties resulting from school zone violations seemed to be arbitrarily reached at times. The law needs to be applied equally, not arbitrarily and capriciously.”

On Nov. 9, a group of conservative and libertarian think tanks and advocacy groups -- including FreedomWorks, The Reason Foundation, Families Against Mandatory Minimums, The R Street Institute, and Right On Crime -- wrote Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam in support of reforming the Volunteer State's law, saying in part:

[T]he size of these zones has effectively swallowed entire neighborhoods and districts across the state, which makes it difficult for individuals to realize they are in a protected zone. Roughly 27% of all cities and towns in Tennessee are covered by drug free school zones. Some cities, for instance Knoxville and Memphis, are nearly 40% covered. This fact removes any possible deterrent effect the enhanced penalty might have otherwise provided.

While enacted with the intention of keeping children safe from illegal drug activity, Tennessee’s school zone law has ensnared many individuals who fall outside of the scope and purpose of the law. The collateral consequence has been passed on to taxpayers without any public safety returns. Common sense reforms to the school zone law, such as shrinking the size of the zone and allowing more discretion in sentencing determinations, will not only save millions in taxpayer money, it will improve public safety by allowing valuable resources to be focused on those offenders for whom the zones were the intended target.

A 2016 poll found that 84 percent of Tennesseans - including 90 percent of Democrats and 80 percent of Republicans - support reforming the law.

What's next for Calvin Bryant?

Calvin Bryant will go back before the judge who sentenced him - long-time Davidson County Criminal Court Judge Steve Dozier - Dec. 15, asking for relief from his sentence based on the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.

The brief filed by attorney Daniel Horwitz includes dozens of character references from Bryant's family and friends, who describe him as gentle and a role model to his neighbors, to leaders from the local chapter of the NAACP and State Rep. Brenda Gilmore. The owner of Slim & Husky's Pizza wrote that he'd give Bryant a job if he was released.

Perhaps the most interesting letter of support comes from Rob McGuire. Though now a criminal defense attorney, McGuire served 13 years in the district-attorney's office and, in fact, was one of Bryant's prosecutors.

"I fail to see how an additional six years of incarceration will improve Mr. Bryant's amenability to correction or would be required to maintain public safety," McGuire wrote, in part. "I would personally not oppose a clemency or an early-release petition by him given the long term of incarceration he has already served and the non-violent nature of the offenses for which he was convicted."

Horwitz said Bryant feels good about his chances, describing him as "genuinely remorseful, remarkably upbeat, not remotely bitter, and I daresay he's even optimistic about being able to help others learn from his mistakes and use his situation to help inner city kids avoid what happened to him."

"There is no circumstance in which it makes sense to punish a first-time, non-violent drug offender more harshly than a rapist or a murderer. Mr. Bryant has more than paid his debt to society, and as everyone who is familiar with his case has recognized, he deserves to be released," Horwitz said.

Photos via Bryant Family