Possession of Cocaine

Drug Possession: Fighting Mandatory Sentences for Drug Crimes (No Captions)

Watch this video with captions: youtu.be In 1998, Lawrence Garrison and his brother Lamont were students at Howard University in Washington. They both worked for the Justice Department, and planned to attend law school. But a man who had fixed their car was arrested on drug charges. He told investigators that the Garrisons had been involved. LAWRENCE GARRISON: “And they questioned me. That’s when they showed me pictures of Tito Abea. They asked, ‘Have you ever seen this guy?’ I said, ‘Yeah, he fixed my car.'” The repairman could have received a ten year jail sentence for drug distribution. The only way to reduce that sentence was to say someone else was involved. Critics of mandatory sentences say people suspected of violating drug laws often falsely accuse others. Julie Stewart is president of Families Against Mandatory Minimum Sentences. JULIE STEWART: “So they’ll give someone up. Other times, people actually even make up names, and say, ‘Well, yeah, so and so did this you know — I know, I saw him one time.'” Lamont Garrison remembers being given the chance to reduce his sentence. LAMONT GARRISON: “And they said, ‘OK, Mr. Garrison, it’s your opportunity, you know, to help yourself.’ And I said, ‘Well, help myself how? You know, what do you mean?’ ‘Well, you know, you know what this is about, you guys were guys were doing wrong, XYZ, you know, you got to tell us what you were doing.’ I said I wasn’t doing anything wrong, so there’s nothing to talk about.” JULIE STEWART …

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