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Marijuana P.O.W. »
Posted by: mntnman444 3 years ago...because a drug test detected the presence of marijuana in his urine.For still unexplained reasons,his sentencing judge, Keith Dean,threw the book at him.The 17 year old was resentenced to life in prison where he remains today.
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mntnman444
just an ordinary guy,go to work,pay my taxes,served my country ( 8yrs US Army Special Forces).Some folks call me a liberal for ...
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Comments: 232
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mntnman444
Dec. 16, 2006, 8:29 p.m.Sorry we seem to have lost the URL for the story
Short version-A guy was sentenced to 10 yrs probation for committing an armed robbery for $2.He tested positive for marijuana on a drug test and was then sentenced to life in prison.The same judge gave a murderer the same 10yr sentence but when he violated by testing positive for cocaine and being arrested for cocaine,the judge said that he didnt have to take the drug tests anymore with no jail.
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mntnman444
Dec. 16, 2006, 7:44 p.m.If anyone is interested in what some law enforcement officials are saying about the failed drug war,check out
LEAP.cc
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Bkumm
Dec. 16, 2006, 11:30 a.m.Yeah, this kind of stuff is garbage. However, this guy was on parole for a crime and got caught doing what he shouldn't have done. I don't think the judge should have thrown the book at him, but he did deserve something for breaking parole.
He is collateral damage in the war on drugs.
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lfergie812
Dec. 16, 2006, 10:49 p.m.What they usually do is revoke probation and make the person serve his sentence. Sounds like the judge found him guilty without a trial, because it could have been a bad test, and threw away the key.
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someonesdaddy
Dec. 17, 2006, 1:22 a.m.Breaking parole?!?! If we (our country) had our heads on straight, Marajuana would have never been an illegal substance in the first place. its as ludicrous as charging someone for having tabacco traces in thier urine. or better yet, coca cola or a big mac! its a bogus law in the first place and an even more bogus call from judge Dean. it just makes it that much more clear to me that we have a legal system not a justice system here in america. it's a seriously broken system that needs fixin. i think that Kieth Dean should be the one in prison!
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mntnman444
Dec. 16, 2006, 1:07 p.m.Bkumm
He was on probation,but the jist of it is that the white guy who actually killed someone got a lesser sentence than this guy for stealing $2.There is a similar imbalance in the sentencing for crack cocaine and powdered cocaine.Crack is more prevelant in poor areas and the powdered form is more popular among middle class whites,however the same weight amount of crack carries a harsher sentence than powder.
The drug war's beginnings were based on racism and nothing to do with any national drug problem.It appears that racism is still a big part of it.
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LordyLordy
Dec. 16, 2006, 9:28 p.m.The drug war has nothing to do with racism. It is perhaps coincidence that the major numbers happen to be one race. I was a Southern Rep, I think a black woman, who wanted a white man arrested and put in jail for every black man arrested and done the same to. If they did the crime, I agree, but if there are 6 blacks, 2 hispanics and 3 whites doing the crime, you arrest 11 people, you sentence them the same.
It sounded like to me the guy already had been arrested on cocaine and burglary charges? Just because crack is more prevalent in poor areas and the powdered form in rich areas, does not justify letting either off the hook. I guess I loved the one where they say, "why do you think they call it dope?"
Judges have leeway to examine individual cases. I hate crooked cops, crooked lawyers, and crooked judges. There needs to be a way to determine who they are. The border patrol agents doing their jobs were sentenced too, and the drug dealer went free. Thanks ACLU.
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mntnman444
Dec. 16, 2006, 1:17 p.m.An example of unequal justice in my area-
One day the neighbor across the street from me came running to my door,bloody with facial wounds inflicted by her husband who was in the house.She called police and when about 12 cops got there one of them told me that this guy was on parole and had 5 outstanding warrants.The police knocked on the door and the man refused to come out even with the wifes permission to go in.The cops waited about an hour and then just left telling the wife that there was nothing they could do.The wife later told me that not only had there been no punishment for violating his parole,the apt was in his name and she was out on the street.
This guy violated parole in a violent way and was not even sent back to jail.
Now we see a 17 yr old getting a life sentence for smoking a joint.This drug war is crazy and has to be stopped for the good of everyone.
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Changingconstant
Dec. 16, 2006, 5:56 p.m.A friend of mine called the cops on her abusive boyfriend once and they showed up to her apt. asked her to step outside, went in, came out and asked her for money so they WOULDN'T take HIM to jail!!
Where is the sense? Front page ysterday was the boy expelled for turning in the gun he found?
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LordyLordy
Dec. 16, 2006, 9:30 p.m.I've personally never seen exactly what you describe but it doesn't sound like the police did what they were supposed to do. I've also seen it where the woman cried wolf so many times the police no longer believed her. I think she needs a 38 and give him a gaping chest wound next time. At least she'd be free of the SOB.
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el-jefe
Dec. 16, 2006, 9:31 p.m.I'd call that anarcho-tyranny. All the chaos of anarchy plus all the suffering and oppression of tyranny.
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r2me2
Dec. 17, 2006, 9:48 a.m.I still wonder where the pedge "justice fro all" has gone".
Down the toilet.
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1basque1
Dec. 16, 2006, 1:22 p.m.Where is the moral consceince of people? What a waste of a young life? This judge and others like him show that there is no balance in the judicial system..The crime should fit the time,In this case the judge strong armed him...Racism is alive and well in almost all states in this country when it comes to petty crimes....Just my opinion, which really counts for nothing.....
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berkeley
Dec. 16, 2006, 1:31 p.m.we have all read many outrageous examples of legal stupidity, but this is way over the top. we can hope that judge keith dean will realize what he did before he leaves this earth.
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Pedra
Dec. 16, 2006, 3:04 p.m.Why is this guy still a judge? He obviously doesn't have good judgement and is racially prejudiced. The punishment definately didn't fit the crime.
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idyll
Dec. 16, 2006, 3:08 p.m.Tomorrow, I have jury duty, and will no doubt be confronted with another drug possession case -- there doesn't seem to be much else coming down in Superior Court. I will have to say that in conscience I can't be part of this travesty.
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mntnman444
Dec. 16, 2006, 3:16 p.m.idyll
there is a right called jury nullification.It has been used successfully in more than one possession case.
You'll have to do some research but it goes something like this-the jury not only has the right to judge the defendants guilt or innocence,they also have the right to judge the law under which the defendant is being charged.In a few cases,the jury has found a defendant not guilty because they believe the law is unfair.
Many judges dont want jurors to know about this but it has been used and there is nothing a judge can do about it.
I suggest you find out a little more about this and pass on the info to the other jurors.
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populist
Dec. 16, 2006, 4:40 p.m.well, as already stated, there IS the power of jury nullification. From my knowledge, there's about 500 years of common law here - precedent! And, the 9th amendment doesn't allow the government to take away such powers, although they'd like to.
Here's how it goes - the jury - based on conscience refuses to give a guilty verdict, even if it's clear that the law was broken. This affects ONLY the case at hand, mind you...
It's a statement of resistance to the state. resistance to illegal or immoral laws.
remember, the tenth amendment doesn't even allow the drug war to exist.
There's a few jury organizations out there that you could research and get further information quickly - online.
best of luck - decide on conscience!
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spkguy
Dec. 16, 2006, 5:11 p.m.This is insane! This judge is a wacko, 16 years in jail already! When it should be like getting a speeding ticket!
This is what you call the American injustice system.
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el-jefe
Dec. 16, 2006, 9:48 p.m.Well, I really don't think armed robbery should be like a speeding ticket. But you shouldn't be able to go from probation to life in prison just for smoking a joint, either.
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mntnman444
Dec. 16, 2006, 5:17 p.m.I knew a guy from Ark who did a year in prison for 1 joint.the judge in the case was such a redneck that he sentenced him to a year and a day.If he had sentenced him to only a year,he would have been able to be released after 6 months but the judge told him the sentence was to ensure that he had to do a year before he was elligible.
Now,thats an "activist" judge!
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KrazyKapt
Dec. 16, 2006, 5:38 p.m.I could see having him in lock-up for the wkend w/ a warning that nx. time will be a week and so on. but this was stupid glad to see that the voters sent him packing.
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mntnman444
Dec. 16, 2006, 5:59 p.m.I wonder if you'd feel the same if he were friend or family.Attitudes like this are what has perpetuated the war on drugs.Do you think they will ever catch every drug user?
Just wait until they insert the word GUNS into the drug laws you support.
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mntnman444
Dec. 16, 2006, 6:05 p.m.dan
What do you think of the white guy who under the same judge, got the same sentence of 10 yrs probation for murder and violated it even worse than this guy but was excused from taking anymore drug tests as a punishment?Does he deserve to be treated differently?
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Roundabout
Dec. 16, 2006, 7:19 p.m.this whole drug war is completely stupid. people are scared into supporting it, and then they wonder why their taxes are so high. nobody has ever died from marijuana, yet thousands have from cigs/alcohol.
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mntnman444
Dec. 16, 2006, 7:31 p.m.The law has a funny way of changing depending on who it affects the most.In the 70's,the strict laws of the past were starting to be relaxed because instead of minorities being the largest population of users it was the middle class kids and once they started getting sentenced like this,the laws changed.
Reagan began putting these ridiculous long sentences back into law and since then the prison population has tripled and the drugs are still here.Recently it has been the parents of rich kids complaining because of the seizure laws that allow cops to take daddy's Mercedes when their kid takes it to the ghetto to buy crack.
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mntnman444
Dec. 16, 2006, 7:42 p.m.GBP
Every year on April 15,a group of protesters converge on IRS Headquarters in DC to protest the fact that they are not being taxed on their marijuana.
I guess it hasnt worked yet...I guess the American people dont want the money. :-(
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Maldovar
Dec. 17, 2006, 12:41 a.m.OK, so noone has ever died from smoking pot. And I guess the idiots that get stoned off their asses and get behind the wheel of a car and take out a family of five as well as themselves, or get obliterated standing in front of a train because they thought it was cool to see how close they could play chicken don't count. And the people that smoke a couple joints while drinking, thereby negating the gag reflex that would save them from alcohol poisoning, and then die with a .50 BAC don't count. Or should we talk about the idiots that get stoned and decide to go cliff diving into a 3 foot deep pool from 25 feet up? Seen a lot of that here. but then again, pot never killed anyone.
Just because marijuana doesn't kill you directly doesn't mean that it hasn't taken lives. To imply that it hasn't is just moronic.
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Taganan
Dec. 16, 2006, 7:56 p.m.Judges do crazy things. Some of them let child molesters and murderers go with practically no jail time and others throw away the key for relatively minor crimes. The sentence should be appealed as excessive all the way to the Supremes. This has less to do with the war on drugs and more to do with unreasonable sentencing and lack of guidelines.
However third strikes are third strikes. If someone is stupid enough to commit a third felony, albeit a relatively minor felony, they are probably incapable of ever obeying the law and may get a life term for a crime that would normally be a few years. Drugs are illegal, mess up too many times and it will be life in prison.
Then there is the problem of adult crime vs juvenile crime. When is a child an adult, at a set age, or when they commit a serious crime? I say at 18. Otherwise its the 10yr old in the gas chamber for shooting the neighbor. Is 17 an adult 3rd strike to get life in prison? I think not.
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mntnman444
Dec. 16, 2006, 8:04 p.m.The drug war has everything to do with excessive sentences,as well as the major erosion of rights.Yes it should be appealed all the way to the Supreme Court but they are also part of the problem,they have admitted the unconstitutionality of some of these laws such as drug testing govt employees but have made an exception because of,in their view,the severity of the drug problem.I believe that making an exception is "activist" just as much as a judge giving a child molester probation because of his height.
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10BEARZ
Dec. 16, 2006, 7:57 p.m.Yeah bu ll sh it spells BU - SH politicaly correct...
I remeber the 60's war on and all smokin mJ brought on
peace and luv from college stundents etc the us gov gunned down a few ...this judge does the devils deed in the name of a weed.....
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m-simon
Dec. 16, 2006, 11:40 p.m.Do Republicans support drug prohibition because it finances criminals or because it finances terrorists?
Republican Socialism. Price supports for criminals and terrorists.
Of course the Dems are in it up to their necks as well. But, the Rs are worse.
Thank the Maker Santorum and DeWine are gone.
I vote for Rs (mostly) and hate the drug war. Go figure.
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mntnman444
Dec. 16, 2006, 11:47 p.m.I actually believe that if republicans could get rid of the christian right,they would be the ones to enforce the constitution and end it.In the 70's there was mostly dems who supported legalization but they caved to the Reagan era accusations of being soft on drugs.Currently Rep Ron Paul (R) TX supports reform as well as conservatives like William F Buckly and George Shultz of the Heritage Foundation.
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RedstateLib
Dec. 16, 2006, 8:33 p.m.The origional story is having trouble loading but I saw it a couple of weeks ago on TV. What a joke I can get alcohol, Oxy, valium, morphine legally. Every one of those has been proven to be much more addictive and more damaging to health, but this guy gets life for smoking a joint because he is on parole, a first time violator. BS this judge should be thrown out of office. In the story I saw on TV he let a murderer, who was wealthy free even though he violated parole but put this poor kid in jail for life for smoking a joint on parole. That is not justice. This judge should be thrown off the bench.
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m-simon
Dec. 16, 2006, 11:45 p.m.Here is why some people take opiates:
http://powerandcontrol.blogspot.com/2004/09/heroin
The drug war amounts to a persecution of traumatized children.
The reason heroin is more "addictive" is that the users have had more severe trauma than pot smokers.
The more severe the trauma the stronger the pain relievers people use.
And to think that some consider us a Christian Nation. We are obviously lacking in Christian compassion.
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mbkijb
Dec. 16, 2006, 9:34 p.m.I didn't get the url to work, but I read the few sentences at the title page.....I think the judge needs to sit back and toke one. WHEN ARE THEY JUST GOING TO LEAVE POOR MARY JANE ALONE ALREADY????????? Doesn't anyone realize the stupid amounts of tax dollars wasted on god's gift, not to mention the waste of the use of hemp? Unbelievable. APPEAL! Better yet, LEGALIZE!!! Gov't won't legalize cuz they can't control it or tax it, the control freaks and tax freaks that they are.....Use this case as a precident. Did I spell that right? And Rush may very well be a big fat idiot (lol- how would you like to have a book written about you like that one????), but he gets away with popping unusual amounts of pills.
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el-jefe
Dec. 17, 2006, 7:27 a.m.Well, that's not true at all. If they did legalize it, they certainly could tax and control it, just like alcohol or tobacco (to name two). Something else is clearly at work here.
I believe that's institutionalized fear, coupled with a little dogma. Suggesting that marijuana isn't harmful is taboo in political circles. And that distorts the discussion...marijuana is harmful, but the harm much, much less than the harm done by trying to suppress it. Or, to put it another way, no one seriously suggests trying to ban tobacco, and marijuana isn't greatly more harmful than tobacco. It's simply the fear of being painted as a dope-smoking, soft on crime wacko that keeps any serious, meaninful, useful discussion from ever getting started.
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Allthere
Dec. 16, 2006, 9:29 p.m.NWO
It's here to stay and americans need to wake up and protest peacefully like that gay in India. Needless to say I think we are doomed by world bankers as there tenticals have insnared us already. Its only a matter of time before we all drown.
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m-simon
Dec. 16, 2006, 11:49 p.m.Wall Street depends on hot money. Mostly drug money.
http://powerandcontrol.blogspot.com/2005/02/why-we
The stock market would lose a significant fraction of its value without hot money.
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ratoncitaverde
Dec. 16, 2006, 9:47 p.m.this is an absolute outrage!!!! i guess i really take living in the north for granted. i truly cant believe places in this so-called civilized country are STILL like this. drug laws are one thing this country could look to europe for guidance, but then i'll get people goin 'if you dont like this country then you can GIT OUT!'
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el-jefe
Dec. 16, 2006, 10:22 p.m.Yeah, and go where? Where do you go when the whole world becomes one big police state?
No thank you. I'll stay right here and vote, write letters, post in places like this, anything I can to save the freedom that our forefathers fought and died for.
It's the least I can do.
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lovermanComment has been removed: User banned.
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mntnman444
Dec. 16, 2006, 11:32 p.m.Another good read is the National Academy of Sciences report An Analysis of Marijuana Policy.It breaks down the three main strategies for controlling drugs and concludes that a policy of regulation (legalization,being neccesary) as the most effective policy.
It can be found at the druglibrary site that M Simon posted.
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m-simon
Dec. 16, 2006, 11:53 p.m.Here is the drug war library.
http://druglibrary.org/schaffer/
Thanks mntnman444 for the plug.
When I'm in my Iraq war supporting Republican mode I don't get very many. LOL
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