Was this your best example, Leonard?

Leonard Pitts thinks Scott Walker's prison sentence is unjust. Scott is serving a sentence of life without parole. The sentence is unjust, Leonard says, because it was his first felony conviction for selling drugs. But let's hear the rest of the story.

Scott received his sentence at the age of 26. He had two prior convictions as a juvenile -- for stealing a bike and aluminum gutters. He had two adult misdemeanor convictions. He was addicted to meth. When he was caught, he had over a pound of marijuana.


The evidence against Scott showed that he was a middleman in a drug ring that sold marijuana, LSD, cocaine and meth. His cheerleaders claim he was a non-violent offender. Maybe so, but have you ever seen what someone high on LSD or meth can do?

Take, for example, Ryan Zachary Drake, who went on a 5-day crime spree while high on meth. According to police reports, Drake robbed two businesses at gunpoint. Several hours after he robbed the second business, he entered a stranger's garage and forced hin to drive about 20 miles before making the man get out of the car at a dead-end road and taking the man's wallet and cellphone. That man is, indeed, fortunate to be alive today. Someone like Scott Walker provided the meth to Ryan Drake.

And what about LSD? Is selling someone LSD really non-violent? Read these effects of LSD use and see if you think it is:

"The ability to make sensible judgments and see common dangers is impaired. An LSD user might try to step out a window to get a 'closer look' at the ground. He might consider it fun to admire the sunset, blissfully unaware that he is standing in the middle of a busy intersection. Many LSD users experience flashbacks, or a recurrence of the LSD trip, often without warning, long after taking LSD. Bad trips and flashbacks are only part of the risks of LSD use. LSD users may manifest relatively long-lasting psychoses or severe depression. Because LSD accumulates in the body, users develop a tolerance for the drug. In other words, some repeat users have to take it in increasingly higher doses to achieve a 'high.' This increases the physical effects and also the risk of a bad trip that could cause psychosis." The people Scott Walker provided LSD to were subject to these effects.

At any rate, if Scott is a non-violent offender, why did he need a gun? That's one of the reasons his sentence was enhanced to life without parole. Other factors include that he recruited teenagers to help in his drug ring. He also wrote an "angry" letter from jail to one of the witnesses against him.

Then, there is the fact that if he had pled guilty, he wouldn't have received the life sentence.

By all accounts, Scott is now remorseful and has been a model prisoner. But that doesn't tell us how many, if any, lives were ruined by the crimes in which he engaged.

But back to Leonard and his feeling that Scott got a raw deal. Leonard notes that journalist Matt Taibbi observes that "prosecutors have actually told him they no longer go after white-collar criminals because such people are not considered 'appropriate for jail.'" (Note that he doesn't name the prosecutors who told him this). Leonard opines that we don't even have to ask who is appropriate. It's "Black people. Brown people. Poor people of whatever hue." Oops! Scott Walker is white. Was that the best example you could find, Leonard?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/13/life-without-parole_n_4256789.html

http://www.theeagle.com/news/local/article_11a5d9b0-0f65-5e71-a1f8-855dcd9dc897.html

http://www.drugfreeworld.org/drugfacts/lsd/what-are-the-risks-of-lsd.html

"The sentence: liberty and justice, for some." The Dallas Morning News; April 28, 2014; p. 13A.