First time offender sold pain killers to friend, faces 25 years in jail

[Syt]

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/04/a-heartbreaking-drug-sentence-of-staggering-idiocy/274607/

A Heartbreaking Drug Sentence of Staggering Idiocy

A first-time offender, father to three, sold pain pills to a friend. His punishment: 25 years in prison. It's just the latest evidence that U.S. drug policy is madness.

John Horner, a 46-year-old fast-food restaurant worker, lost his eye in a 2000 accident and was prescribed painkillers. Years later, he met and befriended a guy who seemed to be in pain himself. His new friend asked if he could buy some of Horner's pain pills. Naturally, the friend was a police informant. Prosecutors in Central Florida say Horner was ultimately paid $1,800 for pills. "My public defender told me, 'They got you dead to rights,'" he said. "So I thought, 'OK, I guess there's no need taking this to trial.'" His story is recounted in a BBC News Service story about the problematic use of informants by U.S. law-enforcement agencies.

It's an important subject and the article tackles it well.

But let's focus here on the anecdote about Horner, because it gets at the utter madness of the War on Drugs. For the sake of argument, let's presume he's guilty of selling $1,800 of pain pills prescribed to him for an injury. Forget that he was arguably entrapped. Just look at the crime in isolation.

What sort of punishment should it carry?

You've got a 46-year-old employed father, with no criminal record, caught selling four bottles of prescription pain pills. "Under Florida law Horner now faced a minimum sentence of 25 years, if found guilty," the BBC reports.

Twenty-five years minimum!

It costs Florida roughly $19,000 to incarcerate an inmate for a year. So I ask you, dear reader, is keeping non-violent first-time drug offender John Horner locked behind bars in a jumpsuit really the best use of $475,000? For the same price, you could pay a year's tuition for 75 students at Florida State University. You could pay the salaries of seven West Palm Beach police officers for a year. Is it accurate to call a system that demands the 25-year prison term mad?

Well. Prosecutors offered to shave years off his sentence if he became an informant himself and successfully helped send five others to prison on 25 year terms. He tried. But "Horner failed to make cases against drug traffickers," says the BBC. "As a result, he was sentenced to the full 25 years in October last year and is now serving his sentence in Liberty Correctional Institution."

Naturally.

"He will be 72 by the time he is released."

[Valmy]

Heh I love how this will cost the taxpayers thousands in lost taxes plus hundreds of thousands to keep a productive member of society behind bars.  Oh and maybe his family will not need to go on government assistance!

People of Florida you lose!  But then again you elected these moronic drug warriors to begin with.

[Zanza]

I read an article about the Three Strikes law that I found interesting. That stuff seems just as silly as the extremely high mandatory sentences for first time (drug) felons.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/cruel-and-unusual-punishment-the-shame-of-three-strikes-laws-20130327

[Ed Anger]

Boo hoo. Whiny crybaby knows it is verboten. Rot in jail hippie.

[Valmy]

Boo hoo. Whiny crybaby knows it is verboten. Rot in jail hippie.

I only wish it would just be nutcases like you who would bear the fiscal burden for this garbage.  Ah well.

[Neil]

Heh I love how this will cost the taxpayers thousands in lost taxes plus hundreds of thousands to keep a productive member of society behind bars.  Oh and maybe his family will not need to go on government assistance!

People of Florida you lose!  But then again you elected these moronic drug warriors to begin with.

Everything is always dollars and cents with you weirdos.

[11B4V]

Boo hoo. Whiny crybaby knows it is verboten. Rot in jail hippie.

+1 Got what he deserved.

[Admiral Yi]

You guys are nuts.  He should have gotten probation at most.

Not crazy about that snitch chain letter idea either.

[DGuller]

Boo hoo. Whiny crybaby knows it is verboten. Rot in jail hippie.

+1 Got what he deserved.

Are you being serious or trolling?

[derspiess]

It's pretty severe, but shame on him for letting his guard down.  Everyone knows drug offenses carry stiff penalties.

[Zanza]

Everyone knows drug offenses carry stiff penalties.

I think the point is that they shouldn't.

[DGuller]

It's pretty severe, but shame on him for letting his guard down.  Everyone knows drug offenses carry stiff penalties.

Wow, just wow.

[derspiess]

It's pretty severe, but shame on him for letting his guard down.  Everyone knows drug offenses carry stiff penalties.

Wow, just wow.

  It's not common knowledge?

[DGuller]

It's pretty severe, but shame on him for letting his guard down.  Everyone knows drug offenses carry stiff penalties.

Wow, just wow.

  It's not common knowledge?

First of all, I highly doubt it's common knowledge that you can serve a minimum of 25 years for selling some pills to a friend.  Secondly, the lack of outrage over something that is so clearly a disproportionate punishment is very chilling.  It's like you people lack conscience or something. 

[Maximus]

Lacking a conscience is considered a sign of strength among certain tribes.