March 23, 2006 -- In other Get-Out-Of-Jail-Free news, NYU "Pot Princess" Julia Diaco skated out of Manhattan Supreme Court Tuesday after getting probation for narcotics crimes that would have earned any less fortunate soul a very long stretch upstate indeed.
Take a bow, DA Bob Morgenthau.
Diaco, who was running a veritable narcotics superstore out of her NYU freshman dorm, had her wrist lightly tapped by Justice Charles Solomon, pursuant to a deal worked out with Morgenthau's minions - the same crew that let fading pop icon Boy George slide on felony-weight cocaine charges this month.
True, the singer wasn't accused actually of selling narcotics - unlike Diaco, who peddled drugs to undercover cops on eight separate occasions.
But she has resources: Her lawyer, Paul Schechtman, is Gov. Pataki's former criminal justice coordinator - and so she will do five years probation, max.
Unlike say, Anthony Papa, who, as The Post reported yesterday, was purportedly a first-time, nonviolent drug dealer when he was busted in 1984 under the so-called Rockefeller drug laws - ultimately serving 12 years of hard time.
The Rockefeller-era mandatory-sentencing laws are a complicated subject.
But while they're not nearly as "draconian" as some of New York's criminal-coddlers would have the public believe, they are serious business, indeed.
Suffice it to say that, under those laws, very few drug dealers who are not young, white, attractive women from wealthy New Jersey construction families, with the money for all-star attorneys like Schechtman, get terms of probation.
Oh, yeah - pop stars get breaks, too.
Which makes the arguments of Rocky-law critics - that they permit double standards, with sentences driven by race, class and other subjective factors - a lot more persuasive.
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This isn't new or newsworthy but does serve to emphasize the incredible morass that masquerades as a Justice System in NYC. To remain in power, the Democrats must keep as many wealthy people happy as is humanly possible, or lose the ability to wage expensive election campaigns.