Posted on 12/09/2006 5:42:19 AM PST by aculeus
THE SUPREME Court this week declined to review the case of Weldon Angelos, leaving in place his obscene sentence of 55 years in prison for small-time marijuana and gun charges. The high court's move is no surprise; the justices have tended to uphold draconian sentences against constitutional challenge. But it confronts President Bush with a question he will have to address: Is there any sentence so unfair that he would exert himself to correct it?
So far, Mr. Bush hasn't found one. He has commuted only two sentences, both of inmates who were about to be released anyway. Mr. Angelos, by contrast, is a young man and a first-time offender who is now likely to spend the rest of his life in prison. His crime? He sold $350 in marijuana to a government informant three times -- and carried, but did not display, a gun on two of those occasions. Police found other guns and pot at his house. The U.S. district judge who sentenced him in Utah, Paul G. Cassell, declared the mandatory sentence in this case "unjust, cruel, and even irrational." He noted that it is "far in excess of the sentence imposed for such serious crimes as aircraft hijacking, second degree murder, espionage, kidnapping, aggravated assault, and rape." And in an extraordinary act, he explicitly called on Mr. Bush to use his clemency powers to offer what he as a judge could not: justice. Judge Cassell recommended that Mr. Bush commute the sentence to 18 years, which he described as "the average sentence recommended by the jury that heard this case."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
No wonder Chicago doesn't turn drug-gun crimes over to the Feds for prosecution - the city would be EMPTY. No one would be left to vote for Daley.
What plea bargain?
Crazy.
Change the law if you don't like it.
Criticise the layers of the judicial system that did this, if you like.
But don't use it as a stick to beat the President. The motive for doing so is clear, and it has nothing to do with a drug case. The WaPo is beating up on Bush because he's a Republican. Simple as that.
I read about this a couple of days ago. The drug dealer was offered a bargain and he felt he would not be convicted so he rejected it.
Strike one,,,,,
Strike two,,,,,
Strike three and you are OUT.
Do not pass go go directly to Jail.
Great message,
You're right about that but I do think the sentence is too much and the mandatory law needs to be changed.
If you can't do the time, DON'T DO THE CRIME!
Is that so difficult to understand?
Oh, you think the penalty is too harsh?
Get the laws changed!
If it is mandatory, then it not the concern of a judge, but a legislature. The judge is not there to decide the severity of the sentence.
He was offered 15 years, but decided he wanted to roll the dice.
Forget the damned drug dealer and deal with the two border agents who have been convicted of doing their job!
You dont see the Post crying for those two Border patrol guys do you?
The war on drugs has been a failure and a tremendous waste of resources.
No, and I doubt that I ever will!
cough. Bullshirt.
It would have been so easy to just poison a few shipments of the crap, publicize the fact, and watch the casual demand disappear while picking up the corpses of the dead hardcore junkies.
Taking drugs is a CHOICE. No one held 'em down and stuck the needle in their arms, or shoved the powder up their noses, or forced the lit pipe between their teeth. Choices have consequences.
OOPS, I forgot....< /rant >
You can do anything you want if you are willing to pay the consequences.
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