Life sentence for pot conviction. When will the madness end?

Puppycow

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Puppycow
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First conviction: probation.
Second: ditto
Third: ditto
Fourth: life in prison. At age 35.

No indication of any violence or any other crime except possession and intent to distribute. This shouldn't even be a crime at all.

Why do most people accept the status quo? Does anyone really care about freedom?
 
"Shouldn't be a crime"

Perhaps.

"Is a crime"

Definitely.

He knew what he was doing.
 
Surely this has to fall under the "Cruel and unusual punishment" part of the constitution? From Wikipedia:

...snip...

According to the Supreme Court, the Eighth Amendment forbids some punishments entirely, and forbids some other punishments that are excessive when compared to the crime, or compared to the competence of the perpetrator.

...snip...
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Repeatedly selling pot from your house where your young son lives isn't too bright.

Especially when you've been given enormous breaks the last 2 times you were arrested for distributing pot. He should have been in jail still from those arrests.

Even the proper sentence, 15 years for a continuous offender, means his life is pretty much over. He'd be fifty when released, with little chance at much of a life. He'd have missed his son growing up anyway.

I have no problem with reducing this to the normal 15 years for such a slow and ungrateful learner.
 
Darat said:
Surely this has to fall under the "Cruel and unusual punishment" part of the constitution? From Wikipedia:
Click to expand...

I imagine that somehow his sentence will be reduced. But it's of course possible that the sentence will stand if no-one has the guts or mercy to reverse it. If not the appeals court, a governor could do it.
 
Puppycow said:
So you're OK with this?

He got what he deserved?
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According to the law, yes. The law may be wrong, but simply breaking it repeatedly isn't going to change that. He knew what he was doing was illegal, but he kept doing it anyway even after being caught and told off several times. What did he think was going to happen?

In fact, it's actually worse than that. He didn't just have previous convictions, this was less than a year after he was given two separate 5 year suspended sentences, which means that being convicted of any crime should have landed him with at least 10 years in jail (assuming they weren't to be served concurrently, the article doesn't say). Given that a "life" sentence actually means you can be out after 15 years, he's effectively just been given the same sentence as the previous three convictions, but is actually being forced to serve it this time, along with having his suspended sentences unsuspended.

I agree that it probably shouldn't be a crime in the first place, and that even 5 years seems excessive just for possession (although dealing is bit different - there are plenty of entirely legal drugs that you're still not allowed to grow at home and sell out of your living room), but I just kind find any sympathy for this guy. He knew that he was on probation and would end up in jail for a decent length of time if he carried on selling drugs, and he carried on anyway, apparently no more subtly than before.
 
LTC8K6 said:
I have no problem with reducing this to the normal 15 years for such a slow and ungrateful learner.
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Let's see. 15 years at $40,000 per year is $600,000. You are happy to pay this to "teach him a lesson"? Plus probably some extra government assistance for whoever has to step in to raise his son.
 
Puppycow said:
So you're OK with this?

He got what he deserved?
Click to expand...

It seems excessive, but then again to get busted 4 times is excessively stupid. I'm on the fence with this one. I don't like the law and I don't see it as a crime but as a matter of principle you can't have people flagrantly disobeying the law. Given some of the stuff you hear about or read in magazines like High Times, like first time offenders getting 20 years for 20 hits of acid (or was that a song?), this doesn't seem like the type of guy you want to rally around. If not for the simple fact that outside of prison this guy will probably be dead in 2 years from sticking a knife in a toaster or something. This proactive Darwinism might be for his own good.
 
Remember peeps, a law is just a mass agreement. We have all made the consensus agreement that xyz is bad, or wrong. but its all a load of crap really.

good and bad are just concepts. ideas man.

I don't think the guy should have got life though, a bit harsh.
 
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Puppycow said:
Let's see. 15 years at $40,000 per year is $600,000. You are happy to pay this to "teach him a lesson"? Plus probably some extra government assistance for whoever has to step in to raise his son.
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Sure, the criminal activity around the mj industry costs me a lot more.

One could say that Cornell wouldn't be in this situation if the prosecutors had done their jobs in the first place the second or third time he was arrested. If they had put him in jail for 5 years, that's where he'd be right now, with a couple years to go.

Of course, he seems to be a career criminal, so it would only have delayed the inevitable, I suppose. He'd just have returned to his profession when released.

He was likely going to be found shot to death in his home, along with whatever family was with him, by some thief who knows pot dealers keep cash around, or by a competitor. Just like many other pot distributors.
 
I think sending anyone to prison over drugs is outrageous but I have a hard time feeling sorry for this dumbass.
 
LTC8K6 said:
He was likely going to be found shot to death in his home, along with whatever family was with him, by some thief who knows pot dealers keep cash around, or by a competitor. Just like many other pot distributors.
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I don't think so. I think this is a little stereotypical.

May be it's different in your neck of the woods, but in these parts we've got your quote unquote "drug dealers" and "pot dealers".

In my experience guys like this, if he's just a pot dealer like his wrap sheet suggests, tend to be average people who happen to have a connection. They don't carry guns or do hard drugs or pimp, they just know guy who grows and happen to be the "go to guy". It starts in high school and just kinda turns into a service for friends that makes them a few extra bucks.

The difference here being they never get busted, probably have 1 or two friends that are cops that smoke weed and are otherwise model citizens.

YMMV but that's what my experience has been. The dealers tend to be much like the users in the sense that if they just smoke pot they usually never have a problem but if they get into other drugs it's a whole different story. That tends to jive with what I've heard from friends that are cops in the sense that they really don't care about guys that deal a little weed on the side. The obvious conclusion to be drawn here is that the guy in the OP may have only been busted for weed but was known to be dealing more.
 
Puppycow said:
Link

First conviction: probation.
Second: ditto
Third: ditto
Fourth: life in prison. At age 35.

No indication of any violence or any other crime except possession and intent to distribute. This shouldn't even be a crime at all.

Why do most people accept the status quo? Does anyone really care about freedom?
Click to expand...

That is the three strikes law in action is it not?

Nothing like it.
 
LTC8K6 said:
Sure, the criminal activity around the mj industry costs me a lot more.
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He's responsible for what he himself does, not "the criminal activity around the mj industry." That's like saying a gun manufacturer is responsible for gun violence or a supermarket is responsible for drunk driving because they sell beer and wine or a gas station is responsible for cancer because they sell cigarettes.
 
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