“Former federal judge to President Obama: Free the man I sentenced to 55 years in prison” headlines an article in the Washington Post.
Former U.S. District Court Judge Paul Cassell (previously appointed to the bench in 2002 by former President George W. Bush and now a professor at the University of Utah’s law school) has written directly to President Obama to urge him to “swiftly commute his sentence.”
Terming the sentence “one of the most troubling that I ever faced in my five years on the federal bench,” former Judge Cassell explained that the mandatory minimum sentence he was required to impose on Angelos was one of the chief reasons he chose to step down as a judge.
“I write you as the judge who sentenced Weldon Angelos to a 55-year mandatory minimum prison term for non-violent drug offenses,” former Judge Cassell told the President.
“It appears to me that Mr. Angelos meets all of the criteria for a commuted sentence.”
