In a partial retreat from drug prosecutions that spurred a national debate over possible entrapment and racial profiling, the federal prosecutor in Chicago has dropped the most serious charges against 27 defendants who were caught in so-called stash-house stings.

In the sting operations, run mainly by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, undercover agents help a group plan a robbery of a fictional drug stash house, describing large quantities of cocaine for the taking. The defendants are then charged with conspiracy to distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine, even though no actual drugs exist. A conviction carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years, and 20 years if the defendants have previous drug sentences. The defendants also face an additional mandatory five-year sentence on gun-related charges.

In a surprise move, Zachary T. Fardon, United States attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, notified judges and defense lawyers in the past two weeks that prosecutors would seek the dismissal of drug conspiracy charges against 27 defendants in seven of nine continuing stash-house cases. An eighth case did not involve the serious drug charges, and no action has been taken in a ninth.

Most of the defendants are still charged with gun-related crimes that carry a five-year minimum prison term and robbery charges with sentences that are at the discretion of the judge.

“In my experience, it is highly unusual to see the en masse dismissals of the major charge in a big group of similar cases,” said Alison Siegler, the director of the federal criminal justice clinic at the University of Chicago Law School and a co-counsel in four of the cases.

Read more at The New York Times