Jacob1983

I'm not sure if you guys have heard about this story but it's really popular in the Dallas area. This man in prison was conditionally pardoned by the gov. Rick Perry after spending 17 years in prison for a probation violation. I think the man was like 17 years old when he tested positive for marijuana while he was on probation. That was a violation of his probation and some judge sentenced him to life in prison. That is crazy in my book. I think drugs are bad and you should go to prison if you use them or sell them but life in prison? You gotta be kiding me.

Dallas Morning News | News for Dallas, Texas | Latest News

Outrage leads to a joyful reunion

Brown embraces freedom as public campaign throws open prison doors after 17 years


10:39 AM CDT on Friday, March 16, 2007
By BROOKS EGERTON / The Dallas Morning News
begerton@dallasnews.com

Tyrone Brown came home Thursday to a place he'd never been and relatives he'd never met, 17 years after a single positive marijuana test while he was on probation led a Dallas judge to sentence him to life in prison.

Mr. Brown guffawed one minute and melted into tears the next. At every turn, he struggled to take stock of what freedom looked like: his face on T-shirts, a bedroom with a window that opens, a kitchen full of soul food, and well-wishers and camera crews from as far away as New York.

Having spent his entire adult life behind bars, his immediate desires were simple.

"I'd like to take a bath," he said. "I've been standing up for 17 years."

Gov. Rick Perry granted the 34-year-old a conditional pardon last week in a case that attracted national attention and came to symbolize judicial inequities in Texas.

"It still doesn't feel real," said his mother, Nora Brown. "I kept pinching him."

At a reception at her Dallas home, Ms. Brown paced among the storm of food she'd cooked up, which included three types of cake because she no longer knew which was her son's favorite. She couldn't bring herself to rest, despite several days of sleeplessness and anxiety attacks that made her nearly hyperventilate.

Tyrone Brown was a poor teenager with no criminal record when Judge Keith Dean initially put him on probation in 1990 for taking part in an armed robbery in which no one was hurt.
The drug test and life sentence that followed contrasted sharply with another case in the same judge's court, both of which were profiled last spring by The Dallas Morning News. In the other case, a well-connected white man got probation for murder and, despite several positive tests for cocaine and other violations, still avoided prison.

ABC-TV's 20/20 news show featured the same material in November, leading to formation of a Web-based campaign to free Mr. Brown. Dallas County officials, including Judge Dean, and the Texas parole board soon recommended that his sentence be terminated. So did the man Mr. Brown robbed of $2.

The governor agreed last Friday to release him, but with strings attached. It's the first conditional pardon Mr. Perry has ever issued, state officials said.

Among other things, Mr. Brown must live with his mother, report to a parole officer indefinitely, undergo counseling about his re-entry to society and submit to drug treatment.

"Even though I've got my freedom, I'm somewhat bound," Mr. Brown said. "I've got to be very careful" to avoid more prison time.

"I can't predict the future. But I'm going to do everything I can to stay out of there."

Throughout the day, Mr. Brown thanked God and a long list of people for helping him get a second chance: the governor, journalists, relatives – and the strangers who, outraged by his extreme sentence, banded together in the name of justice.

One of those strangers was Charlie Douglas, a Florida attorney who was fresh out of law school when he saw the 20/20 report. He began providing moral, financial and logistical support to the Brown family, in concert with Dallas NAACP leader Bob Lydia and others.

"Justice prevailed," Mr. Douglas said repeatedly. He called for answers from Judge Dean, who was voted out of office last fall and has refused to explain his disparate treatment of the two men profiled by The News .

"He needs to wash his hands of it," Mr. Douglas said. "Otherwise, the question people will have on their minds forever is 'why?' What was he thinking?"

flagpolesitta43

Life for marijuana? He spent 17 yrs for smoking a joint, that's insane. Cigarettes and alcohol do more damage than cannabis but I guess since the government taxes those things it's okay for the public to consume them.

Jacob1983

Yeah, it is crazy. It's funny how drug users and sellers get far more time in prison than child molestors and rapists.

Oh hey, someone might want to fix the title of this thread. I just realize that the last two words should be switched around to make the thread sound better.
I put for pot smoking at the end and it probably sounds better if it reads for smoking pot.

migamoo

Ok, I can understand prison time for breaking probation, but not life. Maybe 30 days to make the person realize there is a reason for probation, but still.

ImmortallyUsed

that is insane i dont like drugs dont agree with them but seriously even 12 months would have been sufficient if that!! that makes me so annoyed

you have murderes walking around that get 2 years! insane!

Nab

That's crazy! The judge should have locked him up for 5-60 days, as most do for breaking probation. I mean, life in prison for smoking pot? That's just crazy.

Jacob1983 - I totally agree. It's insane that people who use/sell drugs will get years, while child molestors and rapists sometimes get as little as two years in prison or just probation.

Indian Summer

Or if you live in Vermont, parole and a fine. There's been a few cases there recently where child rapists has been sentenced to as little as parole, and I want to say a $22 fine or something like that, since judges there prefer rehabilitation to incarceration.

sunnykerr

This is why I fully support the decriminalization of pot in cases of simple possession. Not legalization, decriminalization. Because precious police resources (and, in this case, jail resources) are wasted chasing after people who are, at most, petty criminals while real criminals go free because police have too few resources to do a proper job there.

Those parents who boxed up their children got two years. This guy was originally sentenced to life... Oh, yeah. That makes sense.

Jacob1983

I think if you possess a drug and/or use it, you should probably get a fine and a harsh warning the first time. If it happens a second time, then you should get some time but not like a life long sentence. If you have a large amount of drugs on you, then you definately should go to the slammer. Making drugs legal is not a good idea in my opinion. I think it would do more harm than good. I do think that our prisons in America should do a better job on trying to break drug users/addicts from their addictions.

rose parade

Oh man. You're so right. What did that preist get we were talking about the other day? 10 months. It's dispicable.