Gordon Dye

7 Years -- Marijuana Conspiracy


Gordon Dye, prisoner of the drug war
I am a nonviolent, first-time "offender" who got 78 months for manufacturing marijuana. As a reward for being a first-time "offender," they sent me 1,500 miles away from my two children and home.

I didn't testify and the judge believed my two co-defendants' story. The story was the usual - I was the boss and I induced others to have weapons. Even though this person originally told the police that it was his weapon and bought it for himself, he changed his story in court and said that I'd told him to get the gun.

The Judge gave me a 2-level enhancement for the other guy's gun. The guy that testified against me got 30 days in county jail. He wasn't charged for his own gun!

Another co-defendant testified that I was his boss. Even though he had the house and money for the operation - he got a year and one day.

I didn't have a criminal history at all. I guess the Judge decided to teach me a lesson. Maybe he thought I needed this lesson because I fired my attorney for working with the prosecution. Or maybe it was because I'd worked and paid taxes all my adult life. Perhaps it was because I had worked for the government for 16 years; maybe I was his personal mailman for 10 years.

I don't understand it myself. Why is the government doing this to its own people. If this is to teach me a lesson, don't you think it is excessive? Six and half years?