Former federal judge to President Obama: Free the man I sentenced to 55 years

In 2004, when Cassell sentenced Angelos, he wrote a lengthy opinion, comparing Angelos’s sentence (738 months) with the guideline sentences for the kingpin of three major drug trafficking rings that caused three deaths (465 months), a three-time aircraft hijacker (405 months), a second-degree murderer of three victims (235 months) and the rapist of three 10-year-olds (188 months).<p>Where is the justice? Is there anyone who could argue this is the way we want our judicial system to work? Why can&#x27;t we fix this already?

&gt; He received five years for the gun in the car; 25 years for the second gun charge, having one in an ankle strap; and another 25 years for a third firearms charge, the gun police found in his home. He got one day for the marijuana.<p>Pretty disingenuous for the lede to lay this all on the war on drugs when the real reason for the long sentence in this particular case is the war on guns.<p>&gt; His case has been widely championed, including by Utah’s Republican Sen. Mike Lee, former FBI Director Bill Sessions, the group Families Against Mandatory Minimums and conservative billionaire Charles Koch.<p>Food for thought for those who think the drug war was&#x2F;is driven by the &quot;establishment&quot; rather than by the grass roots of ordinary voters.

How is it that this person was convicted on three gun charges, when two of them were (according to the article) based on nothing but the testimony of a single person? The sentence is absurd even if the gun charges are all true, of course, but this seems like an amazingly lax standard of proof as well.

Remember folks, now that Rand Paul has dropped out, there is one candidate left who is not a drug warrior. This will be the easiest vote I&#x27;ve ever cast.<p>Edit: I was not fair to Trump on this. He apparently isn&#x27;t a drug warrior. Still gonna be an easy vote for me though!

Correct me if I&#x27;m wrong, but it seems like the gun related charges have caused two issues to happen here:<p>1) The minimum sentence was exceptionally harsh. 2) Because of the guns, it makes it somewhat of a political hot potato since it looks like he &quot;could&quot; be violent.

Just for perspective:<p>This guy sells marijuana 3x, $350 each, to a narc. He gets 55 years.<p>Jeffrey Keith Skilling, poster child for white collar crime, convicted of conspiracy, insider trading, making false statements to auditors, securities fraud, and insider trading, gets 14 years.<p>The justice system in this country is more fucked up than I could have thought possible.

So what would happen to a federal judge if he just didn&#x27;t impose the mandatory minimum sentence in a case like this? Wouldn&#x27;t the constitutional separation of powers protect him from any consequences?

Link to the opinion in question: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;h2o.law.harvard.edu&#x2F;collages&#x2F;9733" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;h2o.law.harvard.edu&#x2F;collages&#x2F;9733</a>

&quot;The fee to cover the average cost of incarceration for Federal inmates in Fiscal Year 2011 was $28,893.40.&quot;<p>That is at least $1,500,000 million dollars. Very expensive.

He should have refused to apply the sentence.<p>So the sentence potentially gets overturned on appeal, great. The appellate judges should refuse to apply the sentence.<p>So they get overturned on appeal to the Supreme Court, great. The Supreme Court should refuse to apply the sentence. Or, I guess they can spend their time overturning thousands of decisions per year.<p>Burn it down.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;popehat.com&#x2F;2013&#x2F;12&#x2F;23&#x2F;burn-the-fucking-system-to-the-ground&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;popehat.com&#x2F;2013&#x2F;12&#x2F;23&#x2F;burn-the-fucking-system-to-th...</a>