General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsDPA: Will the U.S. Senate finally reform mandatory minimums?
Drug Policy Alliance
Will the U.S. Senate finally reform mandatory minimums?
The Smarter Sentencing Act, introduced just last month, would cut in half the length of many federal drug sentences. Senators on both sides of the aisle now recognize that mandatory minimums are a failed policy that's cost taxpayers billions of dollars and destroyed countless lives.
It's time for the "tough on crime" crowd to
reconsider failed drug policies of the past and move forward to a more fiscally responsible future with fewer sentencing disparities.
Continue reading...
http://dpa.convio.net/site/R?i=glf6Ro0OIj4ZhqP8bl8sQA
cloudywing
(39 posts)Many drug crimes/laws on the books involve the use of weapons/guns.
Folks who use guns/weapons in drug crimes should be locked up for a long time.
We should have no tolerance for that.
Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)This bill refers to non-violent drug offenders.
And the whole gun enhancement thing leads to serious injustice, too. It's an automatic five-year mandatory minimum sentence for the first count, an automatic 25 years for the second, and you get results like Weldon Angelos:
*Weldon received a 5-year mandatory minimum for the first charge of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime; a consecutive 25-year sentence for the second, and another consecutive 25-year sentence for the third. With a two-point firearm enhancement, Weldons adjusted guideline level was 78 to 97 months, to be served concurrently with the firearms mandatory minimums.*
He never shot anybody, never even brandished a weapon, merely had one on his person.
http://famm.org/weldon-angelos/
Weldon Angelos is serving a mandatory 55 years in prison for selling a few pounds of marijuana while possessing a firearm a sentence so extreme that his judge, unable to go below the mandatory minimum, called on the president to commute Weldons sentence. Barring such a presidential commutation, taxpayers will spend over $1.5 million to keep Weldon behind bars until hes 80 years old.
Weldon was raised by his father and started a family of his own with his childhood sweetheart when he was 23. He launched a successful music career that was quickly bringing him nationwide recognition. The founder of Utah-based rap label, Extravagant Records, Weldon was considered an up and coming entrepreneur in the industry. He wrote and produced songs with acclaimed artists, including Snoop Dogg.
Between May and June 2002, Salt Lake City police set up a series of controlled buys from Weldon, whom they suspected was a member of the street gang Varrio Loco Town. Police arranged for an acquaintance of Weldons to act as a confidential informant (CI), hoping to prove Weldons involvement in trafficking large amounts of marijuana. The CI purchased ½ pound of marijuana from Weldon on two separate occasions. According to the CI, a firearm was visible in Weldons car during the first buy. During the second controlled buy, the CI alleged that Weldon was wearing an ankle holster holding a firearm. Police searched Weldons home in November 2003 and found additional guns, drug paraphernalia, and other evidence that officers claimed indicated his involvement in drug trafficking and money laundering.
Weldon was indicted on 20 charges that carried a minimum sentence of 105 years. At trial, the jury convicted Weldon of 13 drug, firearm, and money laundering charges, as well as three counts of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. Two of the three counts of possession of a firearm resulted from the gun he allegedly carried during the buys with the CI. The third count stemmed from a handgun found in a bag in Weldons home. Although one charge was dismissed and he was acquitted of three others, Weldon was sentenced to a mandatory 55 years in federal prison.
Weldons sentencing provoked unprecedented public outcry. Twenty nine former judges and prosecutors filed a friend of the court brief beseeching Weldons sentencing judge to declare the sentence unconstitutional. At sentencing, Judge Paul G. Cassell called Weldons punishment unjust, cruel, and even irrational, comparing it to much shorter federal sentences given to repeat child rapists and airplane hijackers. Judge Cassell wrote a 67-page opinion urging President Bush to commute Weldons sentence to 18 years or less. Unfortunately, none of these efforts proved fruitful.
Weldon is serving the first decade of his 55-year sentence in Southern California. His immediate family is trying to relocate from Utah to make communication and visitation more feasible. Despite health issues, Weldon has taken classes in computers, psychology, philosophy, public speaking and history, and has completed the Dental Laboratory Manager program. Weldons relationship with his wife suffered as a result of his sentencing and the two are no longer together. His sons, only five and six at the time of his sentencing, are growing up without their father.
Read about Weldons appeal in the Salt Lake City Tribune here.
The Facts: Weldon Angelos
Sentence: 55 years*
Offense: 3 counts of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime; 13 additional drug, firearm, and money laundering charges
Priors: Convicted for the possession of a handgun as a juvenile and received 3 months probation
Year sentenced: 2004
Age at sentencing: 25
Projected release date: Oct. 2, 2051
*Weldon received a 5-year mandatory minimum for the first charge of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime; a consecutive 25-year sentence for the second, and another consecutive 25-year sentence for the third. With a two-point firearm enhancement, Weldons adjusted guideline level was 78 to 97 months, to be served concurrently with the firearms mandatory minimums.