55-year sentence sparks fight

Panamanian military leader Manuel Noriega got less prison time than first-time marijuana dealer Weldon Angelos, his attorneys like to point out.

Noriega, a militaristic dictator, was captured in 1989 by invading U.S. forces and tried in the United States for massive cocaine trafficking. In 1992 he was sentenced to serve 40 years in prison.

Angelos, a young aspiring rap producer and father of two, sold marijuana to make some cash. After selling three 8-ounce bags of pot to an informant, who later testified that Angelos had a gun during two of the sales, Angelos was swept up in what his attorneys say is a minimum-mandatory sentencing system out of control.

Angelos was sentenced to 55 years in federal prison in 2002. There is no parole in the federal system, meaning Angelos could be well over the age of 70 when eligible to be released from prison.

Now the 26-year-old is trying to get one last chance to overturn his sentence by appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court. The case has attracted the support of some of the brightest legal minds in the state and throughout the country.

Salt Lake attorney Jerome Mooney teamed up several years ago with University of Utah law professor Erik Luna, an expert in criminal justice, to appeal for Angelos pro bono. Just recently, Michael Zimmerman, former chief justice of the Utah Supreme Court, decided to join in Angelos' defense, partly out of his personal belief that federal sentencing guidelines are out of control.

Zimmerman told the Deseret Morning News the fact that a first-time drug offender can get 55 years in prison is the product of overzealous politicians eager to appear tough on crime.

"No one ever lost an election by campaigning for tougher criminal punishment," Zimmerman said. "Minimum mandatories at the federal level are particularly way out of whack, I think have no penal justification, and are totally PR-driven."

Zimmerman said he feels Angelos has a strong enough case to stand before the Supreme Court. Congress passed the mandatory enhancement of dealing drugs with a firearm as a way to crack down on big-time drug dealers. But small-time offenders like Angelos have become snared in the system.

"Minimum mandatories like this make no sense at all and distort the penal system completely," Zimmerman said, pointing out that had Angelos been convicted in state court, he would have likely received a few years in prison and probation, particularly for a first-time offense.

After handing down the sentence, U.S. District Judge Paul Cassell penned a scathing criticism of the minimum-mandatory laws. Cassell pointed out that someone convicted of raping a 10-year-old child or detonating a bomb on an aircraft get less time in the federal system than Angelos.