Sick man gets 25 years and $500,000 fine for pain killers

The good old war on drugs hard at work. This is fricken stupid. When is it going to stop?

Richard V. Paey was sentenced on April 16, 2004 to a mandatory minimum sentance of 25 years and fined $500,000. Paey, in his wheelchair with a morphine pump sewn into his ruined back, will live out-what for him is a death sentence-in a Florida prison for possessing the medicine that he requires to survive.
www.painreliefnetwork.org...

[Edited on 3-5-2004 by baked]

Of course the man shouldn't have to live his life in pain. But I googled him, and I have a big question. He says he couldn't find a doctor in Florida to treat him. I'd like to know why he couldn't. Is it a case of gross neglect on the part of the medicos in his area? Or was something else going on?

I can't believe that the college student that killed her newborn got 1 year(probably only serve a few months) and this guy gets min mandatory of 25(and will serve almost all of it). Makes no sense to me.

Originally posted by Narnia
I can't believe that the college student that killed her newborn got 1 year(probably only serve a few months) and this guy gets min mandatory of 25(and will serve almost all of it). Makes no sense to me.

I'm baffeled too! Cruel and unusual punishment only applies to those the do no harm to others but try to aleviate their own pain. Thousands of people each year are put away for possesion of what the government "considers" letheal.

When you loose respect for the law, why should you follow it? Because a bunch of wrinckly(sp?) old men and women agree on something? I think not. It's these same "old" men and women that have a medicine chest full of painkillers.

Hyprocracy should be punished just as severly as any crime in this country. If a lawmaker is found guilty of breaking a law that they had a hand in creating, establishing on the books or enforcing, then they should serve 5 times the sentence. By someone making and sponsering a law, they are saying thet they wholeheartedly believe in a certian thing enough to condemn others for, they should be willing put their money where their mouth is.

Take John ashcroft for example:

Ashcroft's nephew got probation after major pot bust
Although his arrest for growing 60 plants could have landed him in federal prison, Alex Ashcroft was tried in state court and avoided jail -- despite his uncle's crusade for tougher federal drug laws and mandatory prison sentences
archive.salon.com...

or Al Gore:

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The son of former Vice President Al Gore was arrested Friday night on a marijuana possession charge after police stopped the car he was driving for not having its headlights on, according to a news release from the Montgomery County, Maryland, Department of Police Services.


www.cnn.com...

Who does Al Gores "son" really look like?

here is a hint:

Mandatory minimum sentencing at its finest.

Originally posted by glee
Of course the man shouldn't have to live his life in pain. But I googled him, and I have a big question. He says he couldn't find a doctor in Florida to treat him. I'd like to know why he couldn't. Is it a case of gross neglect on the part of the medicos in his area? Or was something else going on?

Here is a little more on the case:

Richard Paey is a desperately sick man who took desperate measures to ease his pain: Florida police and DEA agents who followed him for months described him wheeling himself into one pharmacy after another and leaving clutching his bags of pain pills. But that didn't matter to prosecutors who tried him as a drug trafficker three times before they could win a conviction that would send him to prison for years.

"It's unfortunate that anybody has to go to prison, but he's got no one to blame but Richard Paey," Assistant State Attorney Mike Halkitis told the St. Petersburg Times after sentencing. "Even if he possessed one pill illegally, it's a crime. All we wanted to do was get him help and get him treated to ensure that he's not doing anything criminal," he added.

Now why the hell are they wasting our #ing tax dollars folowing a wheelchair bound dying man trying to get something to relieve his pain?

Sure, great way to treat a sick person, 25 years in jail!

Here is the kicker:

Paey and prosecutors wrestled over possible plea bargains as the third trial neared, but Paey ultimately decided to reject a deal that would require him to plead guilty to a crime. He simply didn't believe he was anything other than a victim of a medical system hijacked by the imperatives of the war on drugs.

It was a gamble that almost paid off. One juror, Dwayne Hillis, told the Times he did not want to vote to convict Paey, but relented after he was assured by the jury foreman that Paey would receive probation. "It's my fault," said Hillis, a 42-year-old landscaper from Hudson. "Basically I should have stuck it out."

Hillis was misinformed by the foreman. Paey was convicted of "trafficking" in more than 28 grams -- less than one 100-pill prescription -- of Percocet, a medicine containing 1.5% oxycodone. Under Florida law, he faced a mandatory minimum 25-year prison sentence and $500,000 fine.
www.mimh.edu...

Why not a mis-trial? This is just plain wrong. I have 0% respect for the law when it's enforced like this and child molesters and murderers get out to commit these crimes over and over.

I can see how he would have a hard time finding a good doctor. A growing number of doctors will not help people that require a lot of pain killers due to the large number of professionals that have been fined and had their licenses revoked for filling bogus prescriptions. Just a few months ago they did a big report about this on NPR. Here is some info on that subject.

www.csmonitor.com...

Well let's see,

Personally I would like to see Rush Limbaugh recieve this sentence it is surley more applicable in his case and it is in Florida also. Who out there has a good idea of where to start a loud common voice for this. Certainly we have some sharp people in Florida on this Board that can indicate some short cuts to media exposure in Jeb's State
I do not like that police state and if I had a large chain saw I would cut straight acroos the pen insula and set it adrift in the Atlantic

TUT

Reading stuff like this makes me pretty sad and reminds me of this fact:

It's not a Justice System. It's a Legal System. Lawyers have hijacked any justice that might have been in it with technicalities and complexity designed to make themselves indespensible in dealing with the system.

People intrested in this thread should read, Eric Schlosser's book, Reefer Madness, and other tales from the American underground.

I know it sounds a bit overdone, but it is a very good eyeopener about this, and other subjects.



[Edited on 3-5-2004 by Hoaks]

Yes indeed and it seems to be a Legal System without Justice. Though she is blind she should not be stupid
The worst thing that I believe occured to our justice system is when they removed Judges and replaced the with Legislative Mandates. Judges can no longer Judge cases they are reduced to Majistrates that must enforce the blind law of the legislative body which is ruled by special interest groups and capital expenditure, ie, bribery.

TUT