Paul Westmoreland 43766-019 PMB 1000 Talladega AL 35160-8799
July 4, 1995
Carl Olsen Iowa NORML P 0 Box 4091 Des Moines Iowa 50333
Dear Carl,
I am sending these pictures as a reminder of the long sentences
that the feds are giving for nonviolent marijuana "Crimes". How many
of these people received such long sentences are absurd stories, but
even if they were all caught with large amounts of marijuana their
sentences are still outrageous considering the average length of time
someone does for murder is about eight years. It is bad enough that
we are in prison, but it 4s even worse and enough to break someone's
heart when we are put in here with men that death will be their only
release from here. Many of these people have exhausted their appeals
and the only thing that gets them through another day is the hope
that legalization activists give them.
Sincerely,
Paul Westmoreland
Dear Carl,
I want to thank you for the help that you gave us with getting
the marijuana plant weight change in the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines.
The change will get a total of 45 years cut off of the sentences of
some of the people in these pictures and with some changes in the
Mandatory Minimum sentencing laws the plant weight change will help get
even more time cut from some of these people's sentences.
I also want to encourage all marijuana POWs to become active,
even if it is just writing one letter a month to somebody. That
one letter helps! I also want to tell all federal POWs not to waste
their time in prison by spending some time in the law library researching
their case. Of course a lawyer is going to try to make you think that
he/she did as good of a job as they could, but if you will research
your case you might find out that they didn't. Don't think that
everything the U.S. Attorney said is the truth, if you check you might
find out they lied about many things. I started of with a 151 month
sentence three years ago, after finding out the U.S. Attorney lied about
my criminal history (I told my lawyer I thought they had one charge
wrong, but even my lawyer lied to me and said he checked that charge and
U.S. Attorney had it right) I will be able to get my sentence reduced
to 63 months. In 1993 the U.S. Sentencing Commission changed the way
that it weighed LSD and I thought that the amount of weight charged
for marijuana plants was just as absurd as the way they had been weighing
LSD, so I started writing people asking them to get the marijuana plant
weight changed. It took two years to get the change, but now I might
be going home as soon as November of this year. I am not saying
that everybody will get the same results, but you never know until
you try!
Sincerely, Paul Westmoreland
L - R
PICTURE 1
Theron Godwin 20 Years
Randy Haggard 14 Years
Robert Jonas LIFE WITHOUT PAROLE
Benny Buice 10 Years, 10 Months
L - R
Picture 2
Ronnie Hatchett 30 Years
Michael Lawrence 8 Years, 1 Month
Steve Tucker 10 Years, 1 Month
Stephen Becker 30 Years
L - R
Picture 3
Fred Cundiff LIFE WITHOUT PAROLE
Scott Hames 26 Years
Gary Tucker 16 Years, 8 Months
Sam Hester 21 Years, 10 Months
L - R
Picture 4
Ralph Carnes (76 years old) 8 Years, 4 Months
Mike Cutkomp 25 Years
James Fuller (70 years old) 12 Years
Paul Westmoreland 12 Years, 7 Months
L - R
Picture 5
Bobby Steed 17 Years, 6 Months
Tim Latham 21 Years, 10 Months
Pedro Reynaga 7 Years, 2 Months
TOTAL LENGTH OF TIME 290 Years, 11 Months (NOT INCLUDING THE TWO WITH LIFE SENTENCES) THE AVERAGE SENTENCE IS OVER 17 Years