DENVER — By the time Weldon Angelos is released from prison on a first-time federal drug conviction, he will be 80 years old.
On Tuesday, a defense attorney and a University of Utah law professor told the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals that Angelos' 55-year sentence under a minimum-mandatory law mandated by Congress was a clear case of cruel and unusual punishment.
Angelos, an aspiring rap producer and young father, was convicted by a federal jury last year of selling small amounts of marijuana to an undercover officer. On two of those occasions, Angelos had a firearm in his possession.
In November of last year, U.S. District Judge Paul Cassell said he was forced by federal guidelines to sentence Angelos to 55 years. For similar behavior, the U.S. Sentencing Commission has said such a crime deserves less than six years' prison time.
Angelos appealed to overturn the sentence or to send the case back to the trial court in Salt Lake City for a new trial without evidence they said was seized under a defective warrant.
The case has sparked a nationwide debate over the potential abuse of minimum-mandatory laws. Voicing his concern over what he saw was a clear Eighth Amendment violation of cruel and unusual punishment, Cassell wrote an opinion calling for a review of the law.
Cassell's call was heard, and last June four former U.S. attorneys general, former FBI director William Sessions and other former prosecutors and judges, including 150 ex-Justice Department officials, filed a "friend of the court' brief with the 10th Circuit calling Angelos' " sentence a constitutional violation of the Eighth and 14th amendments.
During oral arguments Tuesday on Angelos' appeal, assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Lund argued that precedent established by various courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, have upheld lifetime sentences as constitutional in cases where repeat offenders have committed lesser crimes, such as burglary or credit card fraud. Many of those sentences have taken place under state three-strike statutes.
Bottom line, Lund said, even if a judge does not like the sentenced mandated by Congress, he or she is bound by the law to follow it.
But appellate senior judge Stephen Anderson of Salt Lake City wondered if perhaps Congress used a "broad brush" in creating a law that would send a first-time drug offender to prison for 55 years.
Anderson asked if common sense can intervene or are courts bound by precedent. "You're just saying, 'tough?' " Anderson asked Lund. "Do you think this sentence is unfair?"
Lund said courts should be obligated to follow precedent set by the U.S. Supreme Court. As for his opinion on the sentence, Lund only stated the record spoke for itself.
Defense attorney Jerome Mooney and University of Utah constitutional law professor Erik Luna both pointed out that had the jury not acquitted Angelos on several other counts, federal prosecutors were actually aiming to put him away for more than 100 years.
Luna also argued that the search of Angelos' two residences and vehicles went beyond the scope of the search warrant and said he had some serious constitutional concerns.
Judges noted that both sides have painted Angelos, owner of the rap-music label Extravagant Records, in a very different light.
Federal prosecutors depicted Angelos as a big-time drug dealer who frequently carried loaded guns, dealt in "enormous quantities of high-grade marijuana" and was caught several times with large amounts of cash.
"Everybody knows this guy has guns, money and drugs," Lund said, pointing to testimony of police officers and one confidential informant.
However, Angelos' attorneys and even Cassell, the judge that sentenced him, portrayed him as a first-time drug offender who dealt small amounts of marijuana on three occasions to an undercover officer — twice with a gun in his possession.
Luna said federal prosecutors have wanted to paint Angelos as "the marijuana equivalent of Al Capone."
In a series of searches, more than four pounds of marijuana, $42,000 cash, several handguns and an assault rifle were found in safes and other areas. Agents also found several photographs "depicting Angelos displaying firearms while holding large amounts of cash and drugs," Lund states in his appellate brief.
Outside court, Mooney said those photos, which prosecutors used as evidence that Angelos was an armed big-time dealer, were actually taken to promote a "gangster rap" album Angelos was producing involving popular rap artist Snoop Dogg.
"People involved in rap music want to put forth that gangster look," Mooney said.
Angelos' sister, Lisa Angelos, told the Deseret Morning News the whole case has been nothing but an extended nightmare for her family.
"My family has gone through a great ordeal, especially his children," Lisa Angelos said. "I have such high hopes, but then again I had high hopes with the trial and sentencing. I want my brother to come home so badly that I can't even look at photos with him in it. I can't even look at his belongings without tearing up."
The 10th Circuit will issue a ruling in the coming months. Luna said he felt there was a chance that the court would strike down the search warrant, side-stepping the minimum-mandatory debate, and boot the case back to Salt Lake City for a new trial. However, if the sentence is addressed, the case may head to the U.S. Supreme Court.
E-mail: gfattah@desnews.com