black…MYstory

Since the President is in the mode of letting people off the hook, why not look into two more cases which may be far more deserving of a commutation of sentencing than Scooter Libby’s.

Clarence Aaron, then a college student, got life in prison without parole for introducing two drug dealers to each other and receiving $1500 for it. Because one of the dealer, not Aaron, was going to turn the 9 kilograms of cocaine he bought into crack, Aaron was convicted of dealing 24 kilos of cocaine. Understand, Aaron did not sell cocaine but, he introduced a dealer to another dealer.

Weldon Angelos is serving a 55-year sentence for selling $350 worth of marijuana to a government informant on 3 different occasions. Two of those times Angelos wore, but did display, a handgun. Police found guns and marijuana in Angelos’ house. The judge in the case called the 55-year sentence “unjust, cruel, and even irrational.”

In both of these cases, no one is saying these folks should have gotten off scott-free. However, these sentences are extreme. Introducing two drug dealers to one another is stupid but, it does not deserve a life sentence. Angelos’ crimes would have warranted an 18-year sentence if the jury’s recommendation had been followed but, instead, the mandatory minimum sentence was used, resulting in 55 years.

So, if Bush can commute the sentence of a man who may have compromised our national security because he felt the sentence too harsh, how about extending the same mercy to others whose case may easily deserve more attention.

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