DU's own Fly by night withdraws his application for a Presidential pardon
Last edited Thu Jul 13, 2017, 07:31 AM - Edit history (2)
DU'ers who have been around for more than a few years will recall a Tennessee user named Bernie Ellis whose DU handle was "Fly by night" (note the spaces in the username, hence I am not discussing "FlyByNight"
. Unfortunately, "Fly by night" was arrested and charged due to his commitment to and work of providing medical cannabis at no cost to terminally-ill friends and neighbors. In 2002, he pleaded guilty.
A number of us DU'ers joined-in on the clemency petition that was later sent to President Obama. I deeply regret that no action was taken by the President before his term of office expired in January of this year. One minute before the end of Obama's term, Bernie sent the following letter withdrawing his petition for clemency.
I am sharing Bernie's letter here so that other DU'ers can learn of the long journey he has taken. President Obama did issue some important pardons and clemencies to a few people caught in the crossfire of the War On (some) Drugs toward the end of his second term, but too many were left out in the cold. Apparently, a Tennessee farmer who was willing to honestly confess to his actions (I refuse to call them a 'crime') did not merit Presidential attention. Naturally, the orange buffoon pretending to the Presidency at present would never stoop to minding the concerns of poor folks in medical need and the people who risk their lives by helping them, but back when we had a Democratic President, many of us had higher hopes.
-----------------Begin-Letter-------------------
From: Bernie Ellis
Date: Tue, Jul 11, 2017 at 4:36 PM
Subject: My Presidential pardon withdrawal letter
11:59 am, January 20, 2017
President Barack Obama
The White House
Washngton, DC
Dear President Obama,
I am writing to withdraw my application for a Presidential pardon. While I was willing to place my fate in your hands for the past six years, I have no intention of asking Donald Trump for anything. To do so would leave an acrid taste in my mouth, a taste I’m sure The Donald would recognize.
As you may not know, I pled guilty in 2002 to growing and providing medical cannabis to four of my terminally ill friends and neighbors. Although my judge was as lenient with me as the law allowed, it did not alter the trajectory of my life ever since. That trajectory has been quite bumpy and filled with loss – of land, of gainful employment, of family. But as my Arapaho elders taught me, if your path is too smooth, you are on the wrong path. Clearly, I have been on the right path for the past decade.
Those same elders, and many other teachers and mentors I have been blessed with over the years, have taught me to obtain and maintain an attitude of gratitude in all circumstances, to find something to be thankful for even in the worst of situations. I want to share with you some of the things I have come to be thankful for as a result of my felony conviction.
Although my judge sentenced me to probation and no fine, I had to spend eighteen months in a federal Bureau of Prisons halfway house as part of that sentence. I am thankful that, on my first day in the “house”, another inmate gave me the nickname “Big Man”. No doubt, that nickname (which stuck) made my life there less stressful than it might otherwise have been.
Although the feds tried for eight years to confiscate my 187 acre farm for the crime of providing cannabis free of charge to my dying neighbors, I am thankful that, in the end, I only had to surrender 25 of those acres to maintain the rest.
Although I had never been passed over for employment in my life before my confession (including enjoying productive stints at the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control), I have been rejected for every job since, including for entry positions in two research programs that I had developed and implemented. I am thankful for the humility that came with those rejections and for being reminded that, sometimes, it was best to accept things that I could not change.
Although my work as a public health epidemiologist had allowed me to do groundbreaking work at the state, federal and tribal levels for decades and to employ as many as 27 people in my consulting company, that work kept me from really appreciating my farm. I am thankful that my current unemployability has allowed me to develop a three acre “pick your own” blueberry and blackberry operation that feeds many people and allows many youngsters (and oldsters) to enjoy a peaceful and enlightening day in the country on my farm. I am also thankful for my new nickname that a berry picking young child once gave me – Jolly Blue Giant.
Although my confession was quite shocking to many people I have known, I am thankful that 174 of them were willing to write character references to you on my behalf, including one of your state Senate colleagues in Illinois, elected officials in four other states and even three current and former USDOJ employees. I am just as thankful for the letters from the dozens of neighbors, friends, colleagues, patients and survivors of patients I had helped who wrote you on my behalf. Those letters were like having a front row seat for the eulogies at my own funeral.
Although no action occurred on my application for the first three years, I am thankful that, in 2014, the FBI interviewed over 70 of my character references face-to-face in more than a dozen states. Evidently they learned nothing in those time-consuming and expensive interviews that caused my application to be rejected.
Although my work with American Indian people was ended by my confession, I am thankful for the prayers of Indian people in their sweat lodges and peyote ceremonies which most likely kept me out of prison. Anyone who does not believe in the power of prayer has never been prayed for. I know you know that.
Although I was unable to afford legal assistance in completing my pardon application, I am thankful that I completed that application to the best of my ability on my own. When an FBI officer assigned to vetting my pardon application hinted that perhaps I should rewrite sections of my application since I had been too honest in detailing the voluminous law enforcement and prosecutorial misconduct that occurred in my case, I am thankful that I chose not to do so.
Although the years of waiting for some decision from the OPA were sometimes frustrating, I am thankful that a friend connected me with a former OPA attorney who explained that the lack of action on my application was likely associated with my honesty, since he said that prosecutors maintained the power to recommend for or against the pardon. I am also thankful those prosecutors got to read my application, though I doubt it moved them to act in a more honorable and ethical manner with others charged with my crime. I suspect that my experience was hardly unique and I further suspect that this prosecutorial power helps explain why you pardoned or commuted the sentences of so few cannabis-related convictions.
Although I still live in a slave state (slave to reefer madness) where my providing cannabis to other terminally ill people is still fraught with risk, I am thankful it has not deterred me from doing so. I now have a cousin-in-law dying of metastatic cancer in Wyoming (another slave state) and I would gladly follow St. Augustine’s advice to break this unjust law again to help him too if I lived closer.
Although tens of thousands of marijuana-related convicts still languish in prison or suffer restricted lives as a result of their convictions, I am thankful for the dozens you have pardoned or commuted. It is a start, though too little and too late.
Although I could continue, this is almost enough gratitude for one day. I want to end with one more reason to be thankful. When one of the tribes I had worked with heard of the raid on my farm, their chief medicine man called me with the tribe’s offer to hide me from the feds on their land. I am so humbled by that offer but remain thankful for having declined it. Living my life having to continually look over my shoulder is no way to live. I am thankful that the medicine man understood that.
In closing, I want to thank my Higher Power for all the blessings bestowed on me during this experience. She gave me strength, taught me to appreciate every breath and empowered me to speak out whenever and wherever possible about the need for drug law reform. As long as She gives me breath, that will not stop. Besides, I am only the latest living proof that my family’s motto from our old country (Scotland) fits: “God(dess), grant that I always be right for Thou knowest I am hard to turn.”
I have written a book about this experience which has sat gathering dust for several years. Today I will take it off the shelf, finish it and hope to get it published someday. It is entitled “My Hollow Tale: Reflections on a(n Interrupted) Life”. When it is published, I will be sure to send you a copy.
The first one is free.
Sincerely,
Fly by night
(Bernie Ellis MA, MPH)
-----------------End-Letter-------------------
One last, quick note. Bernie tells me he is unable to access his account, and the DU Admins have not been responsive to his e-mails. His profile page lists his account status as "Has not agreed to the Terms of Service." I don't pretend to have an opinion about who needs to do what to get him back here, but he's a good bloke who enhanced the level of discussion here back in the day. I hope they all work it out. Meanwhile, I hope you all have found this update to be of interest.
-app
= new reply since forum marked as read
I was one of the DU'ers who wrote on his behalf and I am greatly saddened 
