Missouri man released from prison after serving 22 years for non-violent pot bust

[RandySF]

A Missouri man who has spent the last 22 years in prison on a marijuana conviction finally walked free on Tuesday.

Jeff Mizanskey, now 62, was arrested in 1993 for selling 6 pounds of marijuana to a dealer. He was sentenced to life without parole, a provision in state law that was repealed in 2014. According to local KRCG, Mizanskey’s case was the subject of intense lobbying, and Governor Jay Nixon commuted his sentence to life with the possibility of parole. Mizanskey went to the parole board last month and was easily granted release.

Video shows a tearful Mizanskey embracing his family as he walks free.

“It’s been kind of like a dream. Everybody in there is been asking me and asking me. Even my family asked if I’m nervous. I told them I’ve been trying to keep my feet on the ground,” Mizanskey told KCTV5.

According to NBC News, Nixon cited the non-violent nature of Mizanskey’s record and offenses.

Mizanskey, a grandfather, plans to be an advocate for prison reform and says state prisons need to better prepare inmates to transition to life outside, KRCG reports. He hopes to continue his career in home remodeling. But first, he went out to a meal of steak and eggs with his family and supporters.



http://www.rawstory.com/2015/09/watch-missouri-man-released-from-prison-after-serving-22-years-for-non-violent-pot-bust/

[Snobblevitch]

1. I don't know the details of this case,

but 22 years is a lot of time. However, 6 pounds is lot of pot to be selling on the street.

[Warren DeMontague]

3. Yeah, there should be a regulatory framework whereby it can be sold in state-licensed establishments

to consenting adults and taxed appropriately.



I'm sorry, people shouldn't be in prison for weed, full stop.

[sunnystarr]

4. .This ^^^^^^ nt

[Snobblevitch]

7. I agree.

However, six pounds of weed should never end up in the hands of teens and pre-teens. I don't know that was the case here, but just because this guy was only selling weed does not make him innocent.

[Warren DeMontague]

9. If he had actually sold weed to underage people, I could see charging him with a crime, same as if

he had sold a crate of liquor to teens and pre-teens.

But as near as I can tell, that's not what he was charged with.

One difference, of course, is that a crate of liquor can actually kill someone. Weed- even six pounds- isn't going to kill anyone, unless it is bundled up into a very hard ball, and dropped off a building at great height onto someone's head.

Either way, I don't think society was served by sending this guy to prison on life sentence.

[Mnemosyne]

12. Story is odd, says he was selling it to a Mexican drug cartel, 6#, really? Makes no sense at all. nt

[Glassunion]

5. So is 6 pounds of cigarettes, but that would just be a state tax penalty.

[Warren DeMontague]

2. Good. It's time for all Presidential candidates to commit to ending the stupid war on drugs.

Filling our prisons with pot smokers needs to stop.

[xenoturkey]

6. That is crazy.

What an egregious sentence.

[mackerel]

8. I read somewhere that Missouri Man is moving to Oregon.

[Warren DeMontague]

10. That's what I would do.

Get the hell out, and go to a state that deals with this stuff sanely.

[passiveporcupine]

13. good. He can be my neighbor.

[rusty quoin]

11. I am very happy he is finally home

Legalize it now!

[romanic]

14. Ridic that he even served that much time.

Glad he's out.