Court denies rehearing of drug case

The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals has denied a request to rehear the minimum-mandatory case of a Utah man sentenced to 55 years for selling marijuana while armed with a gun.

The request had been filed by attorneys for Weldon Angelos after the appellate court upheld the 55-year conviction last January.

Angelos, an aspiring rap producer, was convicted by a jury on five counts of possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, two counts of possessing a stolen firearm, three counts of money laundering, two counts of using a controlled substance in possession of a firearm, one count of possessing a firearm with a removed serial number and three counts of possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense. Because of enhanced penalties passed by Congress for those who deal drugs with a firearm in their possession, Angelos was sentenced to a mandatory 55 years.

U.S. District Judge Paul Cassell, who sentenced Angelos, released an opinion in opposition to the sentence and minimum-mandatory sentences. The case became a rallying point for minimum-mandatory sentences and Angelos gained the support of four former U.S. attorneys general and nearly 160 former Justice Department officials and federal judges, who filed a "friend of the court" brief with the 10th Circuit.

University of Utah law professor Erik Luna, along with Salt Lake City attorney Jerome Mooney, filed a petition with the 10th Circuit asking for a re-hearing "en banc," or a hearing by all 12 appellate judges. Typically an appeals case is heard by a panel of three judges.

In a statement released by the U.S. Attorney's Office for Utah, federal prosecutors said they were pleased with the decision to deny a re-hearing. "Those who use firearms in furtherance of violent crime and drug trafficking offenses should expect to face aggressive federal prosecution and significant federal prison sentences upon conviction," the statement reads.

Luna has said Angelos does deserve punishment for his crimes, but that a mandatory 55 years is in his opinion cruel and unusual punishment. Luna has vowed to try to have the case heard before the U.S. Supreme Court.

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