Paul Free is serving Life Without Parole for Marijuana
MOTION DENIED
The ruling might as well have said “Justice Denied.”
Paul Free, serving a sentence of life without parole for a nonviolent marijuana conspiracy offense he says he can prove he did not commit, is used to such outcomes after more than 20 years of incarceration in a maximum-security federal penitentiary. It’s the reason for this particular denial of justice that is so maddening to him this time.
One of the judges charged with deciding his fate claims Free should have brought up evidence of his innocence years ago and that his current “Motion for Rehearing” contains nothing new. However, anyone who actually takes the time to read the petition will see a brand new affidavit from the case’s star witness, a man who testified on the stand that he and Paul Free traveled together for years and were responsible for delivering large quantities of marijuana. This witness now states that he never knew Paul Free before the trial, in fact he didn’t even know him at the time of trial, but detectives told him whom they wanted to convict and he complied.
As astounding as this piece of evidence is, there is much more evidence that puts Paul Free hundreds of miles away from where the “crime” took place. But that is the least part of this dramatic story. The real story, casually dismissed by the judge claiming he saw no new evidence, lies in the resolve, determination, and resilience of the remarkable man at its heart.
Paul Free has worked tirelessly, every day, against near impossible obstacles and odds, for over two decades, to get a chance at the justice that was denied him during his trial. If he wasn’t writing a motion, or a reply, or an appeal to the courts of appeal, or to the Supreme Court, he was waiting on a response from them. All the while he was gathering as much evidence of his innocence as he could find. He hired investigators to first locate and then interview each of those who testified against him at trial, no small feat from the confines of federal prison and on a prisoner’s wages.
For many years Paul did everything on his own, but along the way he has gathered a dedicated group of supporters and followers, including this organization, who want to see him released.
Paul Free with his mother, the late Maxine Free, not long after he was first incarcerated.
Before we explore Paul Free’s twenty-year plus quest for the justice denied him, let’s be clear about two facts first:
- Even if Free did commit the crime in question, we are still talking about a marijuana-only conspiracy, with no violence and no victims. Free maintains not only did he not commit this crime, he could not possibly have done what the government accuses him of without going backwards in time and being in two places at once.
- Yes, a person absolutely can receive a life sentence for a nonviolent conspiracy offense in the USA. Even just for marijuana and even though 4 states have legalized marijuana for recreational purposes and 23 have for medicinal purposes. Most people with such convictions are senior citizens, like Paul Free, who have been locked away for decades. However the practice still continues. The CAN-DO Foundation’s newest identified marijuana lifer received his life without parole sentence in 2014.
A Confusing Trial
When Paul Free first went to trial for conspiracy to distribute marijuana back in 1995, he knew he was being framed. Yes he had a prior conviction for marijuana, but he had paid his debt to society and left that life behind. Nonetheless, various witnesses in the case kept referring to doing various illegal activities with “Paul.” It wasn’t until mid trial when two of the co-defendants Robert Lillie and Antonio Diaz, saw Free and informed the attorneys “that’s not Paul,” that Free realized there actually was a “Paul” involved in the case, it just was not Paul Free.
Free pleaded with his attorney, a public defender, to put these witnesses on the stand. The “defense” attorney refused. Free pleaded with the judge to allow him to replace his attorney, for he certainly was not representing the best interests of his client. The judge, who according to Free fell asleep on the bench five times during the trial, refused.
In order to prove he was not the “Paul” that the witnesses were talking about, Free asked to be identified in a lineup. The prosecutor at first refused, but after a lot of cajoling finally agreed to a photo-only line up with the stipulation that Paul Free’s public defender NOT be present. Remarkably, Free’s attorney agreed to the condition!
What was presented at trial was that defendant Douglas Shephard identified Paul Free in the photo lineup as the man he traveled cross country with to deliver illegal loads of marijuana. Yet Paul Free maintains he had never met Doug Shephard in his life.
Paul Free, serving Life for Pot, in younger days, not long after he was first incarcerated.
A Two-Decades Plus Struggle for Justice That Continues Today
Through his two-decade plus struggle for freedom, Paul Free dealt with a number of private investigators he hired whenever he could save up enough funds to pay their fees. Some were helpful, most delivered a snippet of information then held him up for more money if he wanted anything more useful, while others took the first fee and disappeared, never to be heard from again. These unscrupulous individuals knew a prisoner had no recourse to do anything about it.
Like everyone doing long sentences on a conspiracy case, Paul Free’s conviction hinged not on actual evidence against him, but rather on the testimony of others who were trying to avoid prison time themselves. Like Free, they were given the opportunity to implicate others and thus avoid prison time. In other words, they had a big incentive to lie. Unlike Free they had no problem doing so.
At the time, Paul Free was offered 7 years or less if he testified against others. When he informed his public defender that he did not know the people he was being asked to testify against, the counselor’s answer was, “So?.”
Paul Free was then offered 7 years to implicate people that he did know, but did not know of their involvement with any crime. Free refused both deals. When I interviewed him in 2014 he told me that he would make the same decision today, even knowing the outcome, because, “What good is life if you can’t look at yourself in the mirror?”
Supporters want to see Paul Free set Free!
A False Witness Triggers a Life Without Parole Sentence
One of the “witnesses” the investigators found was a woman, Georgette Tomsick, who had the misfortune of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. She was not involved in the Sumpter organization that was on trial, but was apparently arrested in the same Organ Pipes National Park in Arizona while smuggling marijuana across from Mexico. This spot had been used by the Sumpter organization up to six months earlier and was used by other smugglers on an almost daily basis. Nonetheless, this woman was brought to Detroit. She was offered a sentence reduction if she pled guilty to being part of the Sumpter organization, despite the fact that she had nothing whatsoever to do with them. She did and as a result, the weight of the marijuana she was smuggling was attributed to Paul Free’s crime, raising his sentence from the mandatory minimum of twenty years, to life without possibility of parole.
Years later when investigators found her, this “witness” informed them that at the time, she was shown photos of Paul Free and others in the trial, but she could not identify any of them. Perhaps that is why she was never called upon to actually testify. Nonetheless, government agents did testify for five days about her, saying that she and Paul Free worked hand-in-hand to commit this crime. However ten years later, in a recorded conversation between the prosecutor in Free’s case and a panel at the court of appeals, the prosecutor was recorded admitting that, when he interviewed the woman before Paul Free’s trial, he learned that she and Free “were not connected.”
That statement contradicts what the prosecutors told Paul Free’s jury and sentencing court. Further, the date on a speeding ticket this woman received in Arizona, along with a notarized affidavit from Paul Free’s college professor that puts him in class in San Diego, establishes beyond any doubt that HE COULD NOT have been in Arizona with her at the time. The professor stated that Paul Free was in class each and every day of the entire course.
Through perseverance and hard work from the confines of prison, Paul Free was able to gather other physical evidence, such as rental car, hotel, and phone receipts that put him hundreds of miles away from where he would have had to have been to pick up the loads of marijuana in question.
A Lost Witness Located (again)
Paul Free is serving Life for Marijuana
Eventually through snippets of information Free learned the Paul involved in his case was actually a man named Paul Atkinson, who seemed to work for the DEA. Witnesses told investigators they were threatened to testify against Free by Atkinson and other agents, and they feared for their lives and the lives of their family members.
When an investigator, in the company of a local sheriff, first located Douglas Shephard in 2007 in California, he agreed to meet with them the following day. However, the man who presented the most damning testimony against Paul Free had packed up all his belongings and disappeared by the time the investigator returned to follow up.
It took over 5 years for Paul Free to track down Douglas Shephard again. Free had never waivered in his search as he knew that Shephard held the key to his innocence. By the time another investigator was able to track Shephard down again at his new residence in Southern California in 2012, Paul
Southern California supporters gather to help raise defense funds for Paul Free, serving Life for Pot.
The Paul Free Case: A Twenty-Year Plus Timeline
01-29-1994 Richard Sumpter arrested in Detroit.
07-22-1994 Paul Free arrested in San Diego, California.
12-02-1994 Government submits 28 U.S.C. Section Notice of two priors. Counsel for Free says: “I thought there was only one and a 20-year maximum,” four days before trial begins.
12-05-1994 Trial begins. Robert Lillie’s counsel informs Paul Free’s attorney that Lillie saw Free in the courtroom and he said: “That man is not the ‘Paul’ with whom I committed the charged crimes.” Free’s attorney refuses to interview Lillie or bring him into court.
02-09-1995 Jury finds Paul Free guilty of Count-I Conspiracy.
02-14-1995 Antonio Diaz, in a separate sentencing hearing, informs the judge that he saw Free in the courtroom and Free is not the “Paul” he hired in the conspiracy.
06-16-1995 Paul Free sentenced to Life Without Parole. He asked the court to apply a “lower standard” that a preponderance to determine drug quantity effectively raising the APPRENDI issue five years before the Supreme Court decided that case.
08-03-1999 Sixth Circuit Affirms Paul Free’s conviction and sentence in U.S. V. ACEVEDO, 148 F.3d 577. No. 95-1694.
09-01-1998 Professor Pehrson returns from “being out of the country for the past eighteen months” and finds a letter Paul Free wrote him almost two years earlier and he certifies, by signing a Notary Affidavit, the he “checked his records” and discovered that Paul Free “had definitely” been in each of the professor’s (eighteen-day) Summer Session classes. Accordingly, Paul Free could not have been with Shepard, Diaz and Tomsick in Arizona and Washington State when government witnesses testified that he had been.
02-18-1999 Free’s “Certified” outgoing mail, including to an attorney and the Supreme Court is destroyed by guards at U.S. Penitentiary, Florence, Colorado.
06-18-1999 Free submits habeas Section 2255 Petition in the Detroit District Court. It contains Professor Pehrson’s affidavit plus the information from Robert Lillie and Antonio Diaz. Case No. 99-73802.
06-26-2000 U.S. Supreme Court decides the APPRENDI case.
07-25-2000 Free requests and receives leave to amend Section 2255 Petition with the APPRENDI argument.
07-12-2002 District Court Denies Section 2255 Petition.
11-29-2002 Request for Certificate of Appealability (“COA”) filed.
12-16-2002 COA denied in District Court.
12-30-2002 Free requests COA in Sixth Circuit. No. 03-1077.
01-09-2004 COA Denied in Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. Review by a single judge: Martin.
02-15-2004 Free writes to investigator Clive Brown of International Nationtime Corp., 3550 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, California, and requests that he locate Paul Atkinson.
04-09-2004 Clive Brown responds that payment received.
04-19-2004 Clive Brown responds: Paul Atkinson located.
05-14-2004 Free responds to Brown: “Thank you, can you find Georgette Tomsick?”
06-21-2004 C. Brown responds: received payment of $300.00 to locate Georgette Tomsick.
07-14-2004 C. Brown: Tomsick located in Las Vegas, Nevada.
08-17-2004 Free files for Certiorari review of COA denial in U.S. Supreme Court.
01-02-2005 Free responds to C. Brown: “Great job! How much for you to interview Tomsick and Atkinson?”
01-10-2005 U.S. Supreme Court denies review of COA request.
01-28-2005 C. Brown states he has spoken to G. Tomsick and P. Atkinson and will have signed affidavits from both for $2200.00 and for another $300.00 he will locate Douglas Shepard.
02-22-2005 C. Brown sends fax to Charles Free, Paul’s brother, stating that he “has interviewed Tomsick and Atkinson and for $2200.00 [he] will get a signed and notarized affidavit from each of them.” After they send $2500.00 they hear nothing except: “We need two more weeks” and “my mother is in the hospital” and “Tomsick’s mother is in the hospital” and “I am in Louisiana looking for 8 members of my family missing since Hurricane Katrina” and “We will have those affidavits… next week.”
04-02-2005 Letter from C. Brown to Free: “We are prepared to go back to Las Vegas.” Then: “Tomsick says due to an emergency she will be unable to meet with us until 5/15/05 at 3 pm.”
07-27-2005 Letter from C. Brown to Free: “Sorry it’s taken so long, we’ll have those affidavits signed soon and then we will go to Shepard’s house. Be patient.”
09-26-2005 Free contacts Mike Pirouzian of Observant Investigations and states that he cannot trust the Browns anymore and asks that he locate Doug Shepard. Pirouzian informs Free that Shepard is in Oregon.
02-02-2006 Letter from Free to C. Brown: “One year ago this month we sent you money to locate and interview Tomsick, Atkinson, and Shepard. To date we have heard nothing. Please let me know what is going on.”
08-04-2006 Free hires investigator Archer in Oregon to interview Shepard.
08-16-2006 Free hires Miss Snelling in Oregon to interview Shepard. She goes to a neighbor’s house and asks questions about Shepard. He disappears.
09-26-2006 Free hires Patrick Higgins of Accredited Investigations of Oregon to locate and interview Shepard.
10-11-2006 Free’s mother signs contract with Higgins to locate and interview Shepard. $1,125.00 retainer. Ck # 2909.
11-14-2006 Higgins to free: Still looking for D. Shepard.
12-11-2006 Higgins to Free: Expenses to date: $879.75.
03-26-2007 Higgins: Shepard is in California near Redlands. On the recommendation of Higgins, Free hires Larry Smith, a local private investigator.
05-15-2007 Free received transcript of Oral Argument held 03/09/2004 in CREHORE V. USA wherein the same Assistant US Attorney from Free’s trial ten-years earlier informs the Panel of the Sixth Circuit that he reviewed the agents’ notes and discovered that Free and Georgette Tomsick: “Were not connected.” At Free’s trial in 1994 the same prosecutor brought out, through three witnesses over five days that Tomsick and Free committed numerous crimes together against the United States.
06-21-2007 Free writes to L. Smith.
08-03-2007 Free writes to L. Smith.
09-10-2007 Free writes to L. Smith.
10-11-2007 Larry Smith goes to Las Vegas, speaks with Tomsick. He sends her a letter and an affidavit to sign. Smith informs Free that Paul Atkinson is deceased. Smith locates Doug Shepard in Hemet, California and interviews him in the company of a local Sheriff. Shepard says “I thought I testified against the right man… because the agents told me he was. Shepard agrees to meet the next day at a notary but he is seen packing his belongings in a truck and he disappears.
12-10-2007 Free receives transcribed copy of Oral Argument of October 23, 2007 in Sixth Circuit wherein the same prosecutor admitted that he “inadvertently” “submitted false evidence and committed fraud upon the court” when he submitted that Free and Crehore “communicated by phone “after the latter had been released on bond.
IT MUST BE NOTED that ALL previous court decisions have relied on one false fact: they have all accepted the government’s assertion that Free’s claims of fraud, by officers of the court, are restricted to THAT ONE SINGLE INSTANCE OF FRAUD – which the prosecutor admitted; when, in fact, Free raised numerous instances of fraud that are well documented.
04-24-2008 Free filed, in U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Michigan: “Motion to Reopen the Case, An Independent Action Under Fed.R.Civ.P. Rule 60(b) [actually (d)] the All Writs Act, 28 U.S.C. Section 1651, and the Court’s Inherent Power to Protect the Integrity of the Judicial Process Based on Newly Discovered Evidence of Actual Innocence and Multiple Instances of Fraud Upon the Court, by Officers of the Court;” and, a “Motion for Order Directing Marshals to Seize the Files from the Office of the U.S. Attorney.”
07-07-2008 District Court, ED Mich, denied “Motion to Reopen”
08-05-2008 Dist.Crt. ED Mich., Denied COA.
12-15-2011 Paul Free receives an affidavit from Teshia Clapp, private investigator in Tennessee, who locates and interviews Jeremy May. May tells Clapp he never saw Paul Free before trial in Detroit, that Paul Free is not the “Paul” with whom he committed the charged crimes; and, after he read a part of the trial transcripts he told her that the prosecutor lied to the judge when he accused Free of threatening May in the hallway of the courthouse moments before May was to testify. May said this never happened. The prosecutor repeated that false and damaging statement at Free’s sentencing.
02-27-2012 Free receives a declaration from investigator Victor Torres who relates that he located and interviewed Douglas Shepard near Los Angeles, California. Torres states that he revealed to Shepard the content of the Jeremy May affidavit and informed him that Paul Akinson had died. Torres certifies that the only statements Shepard made were (1) that he thought the pre-trial line up photo identification process, where he was asked to identify Free, “was a bit illegal because the agents made me pick the man they wanted,” and (2) that Paul Atkinson had threatened to kill him if he ever revealed that Paul Free was innocent and that he, Atkinson, had been the one with whom Shepard committed the charged crimes. Torres further states that Shepard agreed to meet later and sign an affidavit but that never happened. WhenFree asked Torres to go back and get more information, Torres told him: “That’s all you get for $600.00” adding “if you want more you will have to send me $2500.00.”
01-31-2013 Free files a 28 USC Section 2241 petition in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, Fresno. FREE V. COPENHAVER, Case No. 1:13-cv-00148-MJS-HC, “2241-I.”
05-07-2013 2241-I Denied in District Court on procedural grounds as the court believed it lacked jurisdiction.
05-20-2014 Ninth Circuit Denied appeal of denial of 2241-I.
08-08-2014 Free was finally able to have Shepard interviewed again. This time Shepard agreed to write and sign an affidavit with his attorney and did so regarding the line up and his false identification of Free and his false testimony at trial.
Shepard’s 2014 Notary Affidavit reads: “I was asked to identify a photo of a man named Paul who took me to Arizona to pick up loads of marijuana or who was otherwise involved with me in the conspiracy. I saw there were approximately six photos of men in the photo spread and I told Detective Mark Thomas and Illinois State InvestigatorJames Michael Girton that I could not identify any of them. Agent Thomas then went over to a window and Agent Girton put his finger on one of the photos and said, “This is Paul Free, this is the man we want,” and he wrote the name Paul Free on that photo. The agents had to show me which photo was Paul Free, and when I was asked to identify Paul, they had to tell me “The man in the green sport coat,” when I was asked to identify Paul in the courtroom.”
10-02-2014 Free filed another 2241 petition in the Eastern District of California, Fresno, FREE V. COPENHAVER, Case No. 1:14-cv-01542-AWI-GSA, “2241-II.” It contains Shepard’s Notary Affidavit for the first time.
12-29-2014 Free files a 28 USC Section 2255 Motion in the Eastern District of Michigan, Detroit, Case No. 94-cr-80095, the original docket number of the case as law supports it is an extension of the original case.
02-23-2015 The District Court, ED Michigan, transfers the 2255 petition to the Sixth Circuit (erroneously) believing that it was a “second or successive” motion requiring precertification, contrary to Supreme Court case law. It was docketed on 02/23/2015 as Case No. 15-1185.
06-04-2015 The district Court for the Eastern District of California denied 2241-II and Rule 59(e) motion on procedural grounds believing that it lacked jurisdiction as 2255 was “available” in Michigan according to this court in California.
06-05-2015 Free timely filed a Notice of Appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals of the California court’s decision. It is docketed as No. 15-15631.
What a gross miscarriage of justice. The fact that this man is serving life without parole is harsh. The fact that new evidence has not been allowed to be presented is incomprehensible. After reading this it calls into question the efficacy of ANY and ALL evidence that was used against Mr. Free and raises serious concerns about the integrity (lack thereof ) of all involved in investigating, prosecuting and defending this case. Mr. Free should be released immediately for time served and be given a new trial and the chance to be completely exonerated. That would be a good first step towards justice.
We have the largest prison population in the world. We have allowed illegal ex-post facto unconstitutional drug laws to turn the human nature of our citizens into criminal behavior.
Laws based on lies and corruption created citizens in prisons based on lies and corruption.
Cannabis McCarthyism, profit, and control have destroyed millions of lives.
Our leaders have ignored the Constitution as they have ignored the demand for controlled drugs. It is making narcoStates out of beautiful Countries, and it is tearing at the heart of America.
It is tearing at the heart of Paul Free and his family, and millions of other Americans for far too long.
You have the Constitutional right and duty to let Paul Free go free.
You would also make legal history.
I’ve know Paul for almost 50 years… Two facts that the courts swept away in his case are: first there were multiple “Pauls” and the prosecution sidestepped that fact to dump everything on Paul Free. Secondly, under the sentencing guidelines, Paul did have one prior arrest for marijuana, but they counted his single prior as TWO convictions.
There were 31 indictments is this case, and Paul is the only one in prison; the only one with life. AND not the Paul anyone who testified against him, had ever seen before his trial. Injustice: SEND PAUL HOME . . .
Mike Harris This was and is travesty of justice, and more reason to end the drug war and bring all non violent pot prisoners home. Recanted testimony, and the courts playing hear, see and speak no evil mocks the fabric of what our beliefs and legal tenets stand. Please help support his quest for freedom, speak out, write your representative, stand for something. “A person that stands for nothing will fall for anything.” Malcolm X. Be the person you always hoped to be, because no one should go to jail for a plant.
There is no justice here. Paul Free should be free, even without the changes we are seeing across the country in regards to marijuana laws. There is plenty of other evidence here that shows he was wrongly convicted. FREE PAUL FREE!
Paul Free deserves to be let out now! No one should be serving life without parole for cannabis, especially now that it is more and more clear that voters abhor these laws and the harms they have caused. Thank you for posting this information, and I will definitely share it around. No prisoner left behind!! Let’s free Paul!
In solidarity, Debby Goldsberry
It’s clear Mr. Free didn’t do this… and either way, NOBODY deserves a life sentence for marijuana.
FREE PAUL FREE!
Paul should be free! It is sickening that men who abuse children get off with less of a sentence. They have caused psychological harm to children and that will effect them
Their whole lives. What has Paul done to deserve life in prison? SET PAUL FREE!
It seems that the legal system has their priorities mixed up. Murders and rapist get less time than people handling a plant that never killed anyone. If only someone with the right amount of power took a second out of their day to read people’s stories like Paul maybe our prisons wouldn’t be so over crowded. Paul I hope the system will recognize you as the strong non criminal man that you are.
Free Paul!
This is so wrong. An utter travesty of justice. No one should be in prison for a plant. Paul Free should be set free. This is a gross miscarriage of justice. America should be ashamed!.
Thank you for the complete Paul Free story. It makes my blood boil to read how our war against drugs has become a war against justice. I have to admit that my eyes have been opened to the reality that we have Judges, Prosecutors and Police who are intent on denying justice to some in order to gain convictions thanks to a group called the Human Solution. They first encouraged me to attend the local trials of those accused of cannabis offenses in a state that has provided a defense against such charges since 1995. Those defenses are routinely denied and not even allowed at trial. It really shakes you to the core when you have lived your life as a middle class “professional” where all but the most egregious violators maintain adherence to the rules and regulations set out for them and then see that the professions you have always believed had these concepts as their core openly flout them for the goal of conviction. Perhaps they have been seduced into the role of drug warrior and victory at any price by the horrors they have seen from other harder drugs but to see them openly flout any pretense of objectivity and justice is indeed a Kafkaesque experience that shakes any sense of security you once possed to its core. None of us are safe from it if it continues and expands into other areas. Worse yet, while it seems that others in the system do not flout convention as these do they are aware of it and even make small jokes about it. They hide behind collegiality and seniority and form mentoring relationships with the prosecutors who are directed by statistic driven managers to win at any cost. This is a system designed to produce cases like Paul Free’s where innocent men are jailed for life.
Reading the timeline presented it becomes clear that the government manipulated the evidence and witnesses and ignored, even when brought to the attention of an officer of the court, evidence that would have proven Paul Free’s innocence. Now to claim that Paul should have raised his arguments earlier shows complete involvement of the Judge in this miscarriage of justice. I hope that not only will this information somehow be viewed by someone that can set Paul Free but that the people involved in this travesty will somehow find justice as well.
This is beyond disgraceful. If there’s even a slim chance that someone in prison for life might be innocent then it should be the duty of our justice system to investigate that doubt to its fullest extent. In Paul’s case, there’s obviously a great deal of doubt, but they seem unwilling to address any of the evidence. Even if he was guilty of the crime, he’s served more than enough time for a non-violent marijuana offense. FREE PAUL FREE!!!
The only people benefiting from the further incarceration of this man are the folks that profit from prisons. Mr Free has never hurt anyone, and there are people who are violent felons that are released within a few years of conviction..this is truly absurd and kafkaesque, the powers that be that pursued this kind of a sentence are clearly sadistic folks.
I would like to help. what a tragic waste of his life.
my heart goes out to Paul and Charlie Free. what a waste of a productive mind. it is a terrible miscarriage of justice. It is a terrible waste of resources.
Freeing Paul Free will go a long way to proving our justice system is not broken. It will take a Judge with courage and integrity to undo what a corrupt and unfair justice system did to an innocent man. Please read the papers and learn the truth then FREE PAUL FREE.
No one deserves life in prison for a plant…. Much less a person that didn’t commit said crime…
THIS IS A GROSS MISCARRIAGE OF JUSTICE
FREE PAUL FREE
Prohibition is a crime that destroys lives all for blood money – we can’t end prohibition fast enough even if it ended tonight.
Miscarriage of Justice doesn’t touch the abuses by people of service. They (the court and those who carried out this abhorrent process) should be tried for the criminals they are – and more should demand juries that are in fact fully informed – fija.org – with more understanding the options of nullification – prison is for dangerous criminals – no one belongs in prison for a plant.
#FreePaul
Unconscionable.
#FreePaulFree
Paul Free’s indictment, prosecution and unsuccessful appeals speak to the fundamental reasons for the crisis of over incarceration in the United States. Prosecutors throw a large net over a loosely connected group of citizens in order to indict and prosecute them all. This is accomplished by the broad brush of our conspiracy laws.
With sentencing enhancements for those like Paul Free who are fearless and principled and request a trial, there is little hope for just sentencing. Conspiracy requires no hard or direct evidence. It only requires the testimony of others who have been charged and they are made aware of what must be said if they are to have their own freedom. There is little hope for just sentencing.
After conviction, the appellate process is cumbersome and the concept of plain error makes justice more remote. Proving actual innocence is in most cases a pipe dream. The government has unlimited financial assets while the imprisoned appellant must struggle to produce his proof. It is not a system that strives for justice, but one that gives unlimited resources to those who seek not justice but victory.
It should be obvious to all that a life without parole sentence for a nonviolent marijuana offense is neither fiscally responsible or just.
Please release Mr Free from prison. I believe him when he says he didn’t commit the crime, why can’t you or do you refuse to. This man is a human being and should be treated with respect. He’s a father, brother, nephew, cousin, son and so much more, please release him!
Please free this man. This is a very harsh sentence for a crime such as this. Even though I believe he is innocent, but even if he wasn’t he deserves to be released for this nonviolent crime. This sentence is not justice.
Paul has been wronged in ago many ways. Isn’t it time for enough to be enough? Paul is no threat to society, deserves release. Or at least reconsideration. Even if guilty isn’t 21 years enough? I believe it’s more than enough, and can’t see how any sane person could think otherwise.
This is not what our court system is for. Don’t waste valuable resources that should be for protecting us against violent criminals.
My blood has gone from a simmer to a boil as I learn more about Paul Free’s infuriatingly unjust case. Drug War corruption is playing itself out, from the complicity of the prosecutors, judges, and courts aided by terrified or self-serving witnesses who say what the prosecutors want to hear to reduce their own sentence. The real conspiracy is the lock-step cooperation among all those officials who hold the keys to justice but turned them the wrong way, even in the face of new evidence of innocence being framed as guilt. Paul Free’s remarkable tenacity and dignity have earned him history’s blessings. When this war is finally over, as all wars eventually end, Paul Free will stand out as the only truly free human being amongst them. As one who has been incarcerated myself, I know full well, this could have been me.
FREE PAUL FREE NOW. THERE IS NO JUSTICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
As an American citizen, I need my tax dollars to be spent making a safer world. Paying for all of these productive people to sit behind bars and be treated inadequately does not work for me, them, or for our country. With all the money we spend incarcerating peaceful people, we could end crime. It has become increasingly apparent that the current law enforcement structure needs for citizens to be victimized and scared, and for crimes to happen constantly. We the people, need to be safe. Honesty and transparency will fix it. Paul Free needs to be back in our society, producing.
It is so painfully obvious that Paul is innocent, everyone having had a hand in his incarceration and continued incarceration should be ashamed of themselves. People are serving less time for real crimes like rape, and theft. No one should be incarcerated for a plant. A plant that is considered medicinal and safe to use even recreationally, in most of our country now! These antiquated laws make a mockery of all of us in the United States, so IF you are reading this and you have the power to help set this man free, then you have the power to do what’s right! What are we, cavemen? Remember we are all watching what you do and taking names and notes, and when history is written, you will either be on the wrong side of it, or the right side of it. What side do you want to be on when your grandchildren read your name?
On behalf of this innocent man and everyone concerned, thank you for your time, and may you make the best decision you possibly can. Our humanity and future depends on it.