John Knock and Paul Free - Two nonviolent people who were sentenced to Life for Pot.  They are among the fortunate few who received clemency - Paul from Obama and John from Trump.  

Life For Pot, The Beth Curtis Interview: Part One

Beth Curtis started Life For Pot, a foundation to grant clemency to those incarcerated for non-violent cannabis charges. Her story is one about love and justice. Her brother, John Knock was convicted to a life sentence in which Beth spent decades trying to free him of injustice and was successful after John had spent nearly 25 years in prison for a crime he did not commit.

Beth Curtis, Peter Maguire, Paul Free (who also faced life in prison until his release thanks to Beth) and Rob have a long conversation about the history of the war on drugs and how hypocritical the marijuana industry became in only a matter of decades. Beth is a hero and has saved the lives of so many innocent prisoners and her story is nothing short of incredible.

Interview with Signal Fire Radio

WHERE ARE BIDEN'S CLEMENCYS ?????

 

 It's time to end the war on              marijuana.

WHERE ARE BIDEN'S COMMUTATIONS ?????

WE'RE WAITING

Not to kick a dead horse but we need to be honest.  We're talking about commutations.  We need to be honest about the data.  

During the first five years of the Obama administration the population of the Federal Prisons increased by 19,000.  During his first five years he granted 1 commutation.  

At the end of the Obama administration he had granted 1,715 commutations.  He denied 18,749 petitions for commutations, and left 11,355 petitions for the next administration.  

During the first 4 years of the Trump administration he granted 94 commutations and denied 98.  There were 65 commutations granted to drug offenders.  The federal prison population decreased by over 35,000

Where is President Biden's compassion and mercy?  He could easily start granting commutations to all those who are presently living productive lives on home confinement with the threat of a return to federal prison hanging over their heads.

Another category would be all those incarcerated for marijuana.  These sentences are egregious while the marijuana industry is thriving by producing and distributing the same product.  

The criminal justice system and the cannabis industry will have no integrity as  long as these people are caged behind bars.   

            https://www.businessinsider.com/joe-biden-pardons-clemency-none-so-far-activists-disappointed-2021-12

Conservatives Support Criminal Justice Reform

Opinion Piece by Mark Holden & Jason Pye

Holden & Pye: Trump made conservatives criminal justice reform leaders. Here's how to keep it that way

Conservatives need to build off Trump's successful criminal justice polices

WHY NOT CLEMENCY BY CATEGORY???

 

WHY NOT CLEMENCY BY CATEGORY?  

SUGGESTIONS:

1. ALL PEOPLE WHO ARE PRESENTLY ON HOME CONFINEMENT DUE TO THE CARES   ACT

2. ALL NONVIOLENT PEOPLE SERVING SENTENCES FOR MARIJUANA.

THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM AND THE CANNABIS INDUSTRY WILL NOT HAVE INTEGRITY WHILE PEOPLE ARE BEHIND BARS FOR CANNABIS. 

 Important data on Douglas Berman's Blog Sentencing Law and Policy

The population of the federal prison system speaks to the administrations commitment to sentencing reform.  So far it falls far short of the promises of mercy and compassion.  

A SECOND LOOK AT THE MORE ACT - WHO WON'T BE HELPED

Kyle Jaeger recently wrote a piece for Marijuana Moment:

Trump Clemency Recipient Says Federal Marijuana Legalization Bill Will Leave Many Prisoners Behind.

Advocates are eager for a House vote on a recently reintroduced bill to federally legalize marijuana—but some others are sounding the alarm about provisions related to resentencing that might not help to repair the harms of the war on drugs in the way lawmakers are aiming for.

The Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act, sponsored by Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), would remove cannabis from the list of federally controlled substances. But it also has a concerted focus on social equity, which includes providing for resentencing for people convicted over certain federal marijuana offenses.

To many advocates and legislators, there’s a necessity to couple legalization with equity. And that’s what the resentencing language, along with other provisions, is supposed to achieve. But in a letter to congressional lawmakers, a pro-reform individual who received clemency for a cannabis conviction from President Donald Trump warned that the bill, as written, would not have the impact that the sponsors intend.

Because the legislation gives significant deference to the courts to make decisions on resentencing petitions—but also declines to resolve cases where there are aggravating factors such as possession of a firearm or sums of money at the time of an arrest—relief could be out of reach for a large number of federal inmates, the letter states.

Craig Cesal, who is serving a sentence of supervised release after being granted clemency by Trump over a federal cannabis trafficking case, said in the letter that many people incarcerated for marijuana “would receive no relief from their conviction at all” under the MORE Act, and some would “continue to serve life sentences for conduct which would no longer be considered illegal.”

Mother Thresa of Pot Prisoners

Thank  you Stephanie Murray for this article in Input Magazine.  Nonviolent people serving egregious sentences for marijuana need CLEMENCY from President Biden or they will die behind bars for a substance that is legal to some degree in the majority of states.  

       

Just a few months ago, 61-year-old Craig Cesal was in prison in Indiana on a marijuana charge, serving a life sentence without the opportunity for parole.

When he was first arrested in the early 2000s, Cesal ran a business in Chicago that fixed trucks for a company in Florida. “They said since I knew some of the drivers were trafficking marijuana that it made me part of their marijuana conspiracy,” Cesal says.  

On 4/20, Craig will be on a fishing trip in West Palm Beach with a group of other marijuana offenders who’ve managed to have their sentences reduced. “There’s a cannabis company that’s paying to fly a bunch of us former pot lifers down,” Cesal says. “Of course, Beth is going down, because we all have ties to her.”  

The “Beth” he’s referring to is 79-year-old Beth Curtis from Zanesville, Ohio, the founder of LifeforPot.com, an amateurish little site she built in 2009 to raise awareness about people like Craig — or more specifically, people like her brother, John Knock, who was sentenced to two life terms plus 20 years for a first-time nonviolent marijuana-only offense. Beth has spent more than a decade aggressively advocating for federal clemency on Knock’s and others’ behalf, earning her the nickname the Mother Teresa of Pot Prisoners.

                                     

THE BIDEN CHALLENGE

 THIS IS THE BIDEN CHALLENGE GRANT CLEMENCY TO NONVIOLENT MARIJUANA OFFENDERS 

 

In January, President Trump granted clemency to 7 individuals serving sentences of life without parole for marijuana and one with a sentence of 50 years. 

These are sentences that assure that you will die in a cage for a nonviolent marijuana offence.  Today,  politicians are receiving campaign donations from cannabis businesses for a substance that is as illegal federally as the day these individuals were sentenced.  

The marijuana industry has investments from politicians, entertainers, wall street, educators as well as hundreds of thousands of individuals who nibble in their investment portfolios.  Cannabis is still on the Controlled Substance Act as a Schedule 1 drug designating it as more dangerous than fentanyl and oxycontin.   To be consistent, marijuana businesses should be prosecuted in the same manner as these unfortunate nonviolent people.  

The Cannabis industry and the criminal justice system cannot have integrity as long as these sentences stand.

President Biden can pardon this category immediately and right this wrong. 

These are three people with life sentences for marijuana who need immediate clemency from President Biden.  If criminal justice is a priority for this administration it needs to start now.

Hector Ruben McGurk    25843-180

Circuit                              4th

Age:                                  60

Charges:                            Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute,                                               Conspiracy to money launder

Incarcerated since:            2003

Trial or plea:                     Trial - first trial ended with a hung jury

                                          Prosecutors found another cooperating witness 

                                          and tried Hector again.

Ismael Lira                        45946-190

Circuit                               5th

Charges:                            Conspiracy to distribute marijuana

Priors:                                None

Sentenced                          Oct. 6,2006

Trial or plea:                      Trial

Pedro Moreno                    71498-079

Circuit                                5th

Age:                                    60

Charge:                                

Incarcerated since:             1996

Trial or plea:                       Plea

THE BIDEN CHALENGE

President Biden could immediately grant clemency to nonviolent people serving sentences of life without parole and other egregious sentences for marijuana.  Clemency for this category would be fiscally responsible and would help restore integrity to the criminal justice system.  

Thank you President Trump for granting clemency to 7 nonviolent people serving sentences of life without parole for marijuana and one serving a sentence of 50 years.  This sentence is not fiscally responsible and is not just.