{"id":52513,"date":"2020-11-11T17:20:06","date_gmt":"2020-11-11T17:20:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/one-of-americas-longest-serving-pot-prisoners-will-be-released-next-month\/"},"modified":"2020-11-11T17:20:06","modified_gmt":"2020-11-11T17:20:06","slug":"one-of-americas-longest-serving-pot-prisoners-will-be-released-next-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/news\/one-of-americas-longest-serving-pot-prisoners-will-be-released-next-month\/","title":{"rendered":"One of America’s Longest-Serving Pot Prisoners Will be Released Next Month"},"content":{"rendered":"

Image <\/em>via<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

A 71-year-old man sentenced to 98 years in prison for conspiring to smuggle weed into Florida is expected to be freed from prison<\/u><\/a> next month, thanks to the hardworking efforts of cannabis advocates and attorneys. <\/p>\n

Richard DeLisi was convicted in 1989 for agreeing to take part in an imaginary cannabis smuggling scheme dreamed up by Florida cops. DeLisi was nabbed in a reverse-sting operation<\/u><\/a>, a form of entrapment in which police deliberately set up civilians who they think are likely to commit a crime. In this specific case, US customs and IRS officials worked with Florida cops to create a fictitious criminal conspiracy focused on ensnaring DeLisi and his brother Ted.<\/p>\n

A government informant named James White contacted the DeLisi brothers and convinced them to get involved in this fake conspiracy. Richard DeLisi told White that he was willing to smuggle weed into Florida in a conversation that was secretly recorded by police. Based on this evidence, the brothers were arrested and charged with a criminal conspiracy to traffic weed into Florida. <\/p>\n

Reverse-sting entrapment is considered a highly controversial police tactic, and is actually illegal in many countries. Yet in Florida, like most other US states, this kind of entrapment is completely legal. Both brothers were arrested simply because Richard agreed to traffic marijuana \u2013 but neither of them actually committed the crime.<\/p>\n

To make matters worse, both brothers were tried under a RICO criminal conspiracy charge. Although the standard prison sentence for marijuana trafficking is 12 to 17 years, the additional conspiracy and racketeering charges allowed the judge to add decades to their sentences. Richard was ultimately sentenced to 98 years in prison. <\/p>\n