Posted on 12/04/2006 2:25:37 PM PST by kiriath_jearim
WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court on Monday let stand a mandatory 55-year prison sentence, condemned as excessive by the federal judge who imposed it, for a man convicted of carrying a handgun during three marijuana deals.
Record producer Weldon Angelos received the minimum sentence under the law -- a harsher sentence than a child rapist or a terrorist who detonates a bomb aboard an aircraft would receive, according to his attorneys. The justices, without comment, left the prison term undisturbed.
Angelos was convicted of 16 counts of violating federal firearms, drug and money laundering laws in 2003. The charges stemmed from his sale of three 8-ounce bags of marijuana to an undercover informant.
He had a gun but never brandished or used it. Nevertheless, the three counts of possession of a firearm in a drug transaction required the mandatory minimum sentence.
Four former attorneys general and 145 former prosecutors and judges wrote in support of a lighter sentence for Angelos. Even the sentencing judge, U.S. District Judge Paul Cassell, an appointee of President Bush, called the sentence "unjust, cruel and irrational." But he said the law left him no choice.
Prosecutors said the sentence was appropriate and an appeals court agreed.
The case is Angelos v. U.S., 06-26.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsday.com ...
If the gun is not used or even shown, as was the case with this guy selling pot, it doesn't facilitate the transaction at all.
I assume it was found during the arrest.
Well gee let's just lock up everyone for everything now if "more is always better" that will teach em. We can start with speeders and j-walkers. A year in the clink would straighten them out donthca think? Then we can move on the DUI'ers like Bush. Toss them in for 20 years. Next...
Mandatory minimum sentances aren't sentanching guidelines.
"Pot comes from mexico"
No kidding? How about that! It comes from B.C. too, and the east coast, and everywhere else. If you didn't know that Islamic terrorists raise a large part of their money from drugs (yes pot is a drug) then you better wake up. What's a shame is a large amount of drug users are Americans. They are funding terrorism, buying the bullets and RPG's that kill our troops.
Umm....the point is Islamic terrorists make no money off marijuana, specifically.
And the SOLE reason terrorists anywhere make money off any drug is because it's illegal (or really severely taxed, Hamas and Hezbollah have in fact made money in the US off cigarette-smuggling.)
So why aren't you lecturing cigarette smokers about supporting terrorism?
Seems your mind is clouded by something. Hey, but if it feels good...(where have I heard that before? )
The penalty seems to be not for the drugs, but for the gun while selling drugs.
A pound and a half of pot is not a big deal. DEA seizes 2.3 million pounds garbage bags at a time along Mexican border every year. If this guy had not had the gun, he probably would have been given a plea bargain of a year or two and taken it.
50 plus more years for a non violent possession offense ancillary to the real crime is nuts. 2 million dollars plus of taxpayer money to lock a non violent pot dealer up forever is nuts.
Ah. See my first post. It's for the the CHILDREN.. See I knew it was!
Regardless, this seems a bit excessive in my opinion. And it really ticks me off that terrorists and child rapists get less.
Give me your ballpark estimate at the number of children killed by drunk drivers each year vs. those killed by "drugs."
Link please, this is the first time I've heard this.
"Pot comes from mexico" No kidding? How about that! It comes from B.C. too, and the east coast, and everywhere else. If you didn't know that Islamic terrorists raise a large part of their money from drugs (yes pot is a drug) then you better wake up. What's a shame is a large amount of drug users are Americans. They are funding terrorism, buying the bullets and RPG's that kill our troops.
The point is that pot is bulky, in other words, it takes a lot of space. You show me one bust of someone importing pot from Afghanistan, just one.
I don't know about your state but pot in California is mostly from the Humboldt area. We also get a lot of Mexican pot as well.
Now, maybe they're importing Hashish, now that makes sense.
Since I don't do drugs, I'm not hip to what's going on but I see pot busts in CA's national parks and stuff but I've never seen someone busted for bringing in pot from Afghanistan.
So, you are under some delusion it ISN'T? Wake up, or better yet, clear your mind.
TONS of HASH and oil comes from there. Yes, it funds TERRORISM, and the terrorists operating there are the Taliban. Keep smoking, makes you smart obviously.
The failed war on some drugs wastes innumerable resources. It is completely at odds with the conservative priciples of individual responsibility and limited government.
This guy wasn't selling HASH or oil, he was selling pot. That I've read, Afghani hash and oil go almost exclusively to Europe.
People have asked you multiple times to cite any evidence whatsoever of ANY marijuana (you are aware that hashish and marijuana are different products, aren't you?) entering the country from Afghanistan.
So where is it?
Therefore, the sentence will be seen as politically just. ;)
I think the same argument applies that I use in response to death penalty opponents-- these harsh sentences are pretty easy to avoid: don't commit the crime. I don't really care, as a substantive matter, how much pot people own, sell or smoke, as long as I don't have to bear the costs of that use. But before you make the CHOICE to buy, sell or use a substance known to be illegal, you are obligated to check the consequences of getting caught with the contraband and while possessing a firearm. Harsh penalty? Yes. Avoidable? Yes.
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