Weldon Angelos received a 55-year federal prison sentence after three small marijuana sales in Utah.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]

Weldon Angelos, 24, a successful music executive and father of two young children with no criminal record, stood for sentencing in Salt Lake City after a jury convicted him of dealing marijuana and related firearms and money-laundering counts.[1][2][3] A government informant, Ronnie Lazalde, made three controlled buys from him; on 21 May 2002 Angelos sold eight ounces of marijuana for $350 with his Glock pistol by the car’s centre console, and each sale was eight one-ounce bags for $350.[1][2] Angelos carried a handgun during two of the $350 deals, though he was never accused of using or showing a weapon, and police found several more guns when they searched his apartment.[1][3]

Sentence and protest

On 16 November 2004 Judge Paul G. Cassell imposed 55 years and one day, the minimum the law allowed: five years for the first gun count and 25 years for each of the next two under 18 U.S.C. section 924(c).[1][3] Cassell called the sentence unjust, cruel and even irrational, and wrote that he would recommend executive clemency to correct it.[1][3] Angelos got a longer term than people convicted of kidnapping, rape or second-degree murder, and the case became a leading example in the campaign against mandatory minimums.[3]

Release and pardon

Angelos served about 12 years before a federal court granted him an immediate reduction in sentence and he walked free on 31 May 2016.[4][5] His lawyer said the move came from the Salt Lake City prosecutor who had charged him, not from President Obama, whose round of commutations that week did not include him.[4][5] Cassell, by then a law professor still advocating for Angelos, said prosecutors had arranged the release; the records behind it were sealed.[5] On 22 December 2020 President Trump granted Angelos a full pardon.[6]

Prosecutors defended the term, saying officers found 26 empty duffel bags with marijuana residue and describing Angelos as a significant dealer who had turned down a 16-year plea offer.[8]