55-year drug sentence 'obscene'

[rooboy]

Calling the sentence "unjust, cruel and even irrational" - but saying Congress had tied his hands by requiring mandatory minimum sentences - a federal judge in Utah has sentenced a first-offender marijuana seller to a 55-year, no-parole prison term.

US District Judge Paul G Cassell, appointed three years ago by President George W Bush, imposed the sentence yesterday on Utah rap record producer Weldon H Angelos, 25, and issued an impassioned 67-page opinion urging the president to commute the sentence to no more than 18 years.

Cassell wrote that the federal sentencing guidelines usually yield "tough but fair" sentences.

In Angelos' case, however, three gun-possession counts involving a concealed weapon he carried during marijuana sales to an informant triggered mandatory minimums Angelos must serve consecutive to what should have an eight-year term on the drug conviction.

"This case is different," Cassell wrote. "It involves a first offender who will receive a life sentence for crimes far less serious than those committed by many other offenders - including violent offenders and even a murderer - who have been before me."

http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/55year-drug-sentence-obscene/2004/11/18/1100718140200.html

[Maat]

These mandatory sentences are and always have been...

a really, really bad idea.

Eliminates inconsistency, you say? Not really, and any inconsistency omitted is not worth the price. I want a judge to evaluate every case individually, usually his JUDGMENT; that is what I pay him or her for. All factors should be taken into consideration during sentencing. This is a classic case.

[Maat]

1. Sorry, dupe.

[Lorien]

2. Totally insane

murderers get away with far less in many states!

[GoddessOfGuinness]

7. And some murderers aren't even tried...

depending upon their role in government.

[girl gone mad]

3. Bush is pretty heartless.

I doubt there is any chance he will commute this man's sentence.

For someone who is a recovering alcoholic/addict, Bush has shown an unusual unwillingness to show compassion or leniency.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

4. Earlier that day in the same courtroom, a man was convicted of murder

and received 25 years.

We live in bizarro world here. You can do more time for a DUI with no accidents than manslaughter with a gun in Alabama (10 years for a third DUI in a lifetime).

Catering to the "holier than thou's" is a full time job for American polititians. I just wish they'd get as pissed off about violent crime as they do about someone catching a buzz.

[jdj]

15. reminds me of that case where a man came home

and found his wife in bed with another man; he shot her and killed her, and the judge gave him 9 months, and said "I would have done the same exact thing."

[alittlelark]

5. F*cked -up

snip>'urging the president to commute the sentence to no more than 18 years.'


NO MORE THAN 18 YEARS - are we insane!!!!... oh yeah, we are.

[Minstrel Boy]

6. Absolutely fucked up. n/t

[Hard Attack]

8. Australian Press Reporting United States F*Cked Up Laws

I am sure somewhere in America this story is being talked about, maybe in the Prisons.

[DavidFL]

9. It was tonight on Anderson Cooper 360...

This guy's sister and his lawyer were on. The sister said she believes the arresting officer -- the only police witness the AUSA had -- lied about her brother having a gun on him. Anderson was shocked, just shocked, that she would say that the cop had lied on the stand and then started asking all these questions which were worded in a way that it was apparent he thought she was nutty. It's one of the many things I can't stand about his show and CNN in general. Anyone who questions authority, or what the government says, is treated as a nutty conspiracy theorist. But considering the audince AC is aimed at, primarily young adults, it sends a bad message.

[Cronus Protagonist]

10. The judge could have sentenced him fairly anyway

It would have taken bravery beyond this man's capacity, however.

Show your support for the president, wear a FUCK BUSH button!

http://brainbuttons.com/home.asp?stashid=13

(We usually ship same or next business day by first class mail. Orders over $25 will get a free multi-media CD)

[drunkdriver-in-chief]

11. Bush and cheney are convicted drug criminals

They both have convictions for drunk driving - the worst of all drug crimes since DUIs are killers and maimers. But they never did a day in prison for their drug crimes.

[JudyM]

24. Great point.

[acmavm]

12. Geez, wonder if Tom DeLays kid ever got caught doing this they would

change the law so no time was done.

[lil-petunia]

13. Impossible. Delay spawned roaches, not children.

[Niccolo_Macchiavelli]

14. perhaps he gets the serve in military deal ? (nt)

nt

[Sin]

16. wow i think

The guy in midnight express had a shorter one compared to that.

[SheepyMcSheepster]

17. that is obscene

stop the prohibition

[Mandate My Ass]

18. Cassell is a Scalia flunky from way back

clerked for him, IIRC. He also tried to have Miranda overturned about five years ago but even with his mentor's help, the court upheld it.

I bet that impassioned opinion for leniency will be used for toilet paper.

[wicket]

19. This is a travesty!!!

:grr: :grr: :grr:

[gulfcoastliberal]

20. 55 YEARS?! For a 1st offense?!

I am getting the fuck out of this corrupt, hollow country. These mandatory minimums are the fucking dems fault; we controlled both house & senate when this legislation passed in the 80s. I can't fucking stand this shit!

[KansDem]

21. DAMN! I was so hoping to click on this story and see the name "Limbaugh"

but alas that was not to be :(

On a serious note, yes, these mandatory sentences are ridiculous, particularly in this case where someone is merely profiting from the sale of an organic plant put here as a result of "intelligent design..."

[indepat]

22. Public expenditure of some $2,000,000 to incarcerate this offender is good

use of public monies in the eyes of the "tough on crime" touters.

[fishwax]

23. It's obscene. It's insane.

Our priorities are so out of whack.

[prayin4rain]

25. What a nightmare. What the hell is going on in our court system?

Between the three strikes rule and this mandatory sentencing, justice and logic have been thrown out the window.

[Mandate My Ass]

28. There is hope

SCOTUS is hearing two cases this year on the constitutionality of mandatory minimums.

[Willy Lee]

26. Fucking Reagan and his war on drugs. eom

[Blue_Tires]

27. appeal it!

[ekhunter]

29. look at the bright side, another drug dealer off the streets.

[Ariana Celeste]

30. That's not bright :(

I would definitely celebrate a heroin dealer off the streets. That's about it though.

The War on Drugs must end! Mandatory Minimum Sentences are wrong, they don't help ANYTHING, they only add to the numbers in prisons.

Disgusting. Disgusting! 55 years?! I don't care what number offense, that is just wrong...

[Malebolgia]

31. Like a sign said on an episode of The Simpsons:

"If you murdered someone, you'd be home already."

Murderers get out of prison in, what, ten years? Why does a pot seller get 55 fucking years?????

[struggle4progress]

32. Cruel and unusual. eom