An argument that the Second Amendment and Heller should help Weldon Angelos
Regular readers should recall the name Weldon Angelos; Angelos was subject to federal mandatory sentencing terms of 55 years because of gun possession linked to three small hand-to-hand marijuana sales in a public parking lot. Regular readers may also recall from this post that, upon the request of Weldon’s sister, a pro bono legal team (of which I am a part) filed a lengthy 2255 motion in December 2007 making an array of constitutional arguments on Angelos’s behalf. (The original motion is available at this link, and the government is scheduled to file its response in the near future.)
Today marks another chapter in this legal story because this same legal team has just filed a motion for partial summary judgment based in large part on the Second Amendment as it is now understand after Heller. The 20-page memorandum filed in support of this motion is available for download below. As I have indicated before, because I am essentially counsel of record, I do not plan to discuss or debate the merits of the motion on this blog. However, I am hopeful that everyone interested in the meaning and reach of Heller and the Second Amendment will take the time to read and reflect upon the arguments we make in this motion. Here is how we introduce these arguments from the memorandum:
Though the government may eventually dispute some facts set forth in the 2255 motion, there is no dispute that Angelos had no adult criminal record prior to the instant case and that he was subject to 55 years of mandatory federal imprisonment based principally on allegations of possession of firearms in his home, in his car, and on his person. Specifically, the firearms providing the basis for one 25-year mandatory sentencing term were those present within Angelos’s home. And though there is a dispute concerning whether Angelos possessed a firearm during the marijuana sales engineered by the government’s informant, there is no evidence whatsoever or even any serious allegation that Angelos actively utilized firearms to facilitate three uneventful hand-to-hand marijuana sales. Nevertheless, on the basis of (suspect and perhaps incredible) testimony of a single government informant, who belatedly asserted that Angelos possessed a firearm during two marijuana sales, the district court felt obliged under statutory sentencing provisions to impose another 30 years of federal imprisonment.
In light of the Supreme Court’s broad and forceful recognition of the right of all citizens under the Second Amendment to possess firearms to effectuate “the inherent right of self-defense,” District of Columbia v. Heller, 128 S. Ct 2783, 2817 (2008), the extreme sentence imposed upon Angelos for gun possession are now clearly unconstitutional and his 55-year sentence must be at least partially vacated. As explained more fully below, the Supreme Court’s landmark Heller ruling as applied to the unique facts of this case render unconstitutional (1) the Government’s pursuit of a superseding indictment threatening a 25-year mandatory prison sentence based on the presence of guns within the Angelos home, and (2) the imposition of 55 years of federal imprisonment Angelos is now serving based on his gun possession.
In addition, the Heller ruling, considered together with the Supreme Court’s most recent explication of Eighth Amendment jurisprudence and its application in Kennedy v. Louisiana, 128 S. Ct. 2641 (2008), confirms that the 55-year federal prison term that Angelos is serving based on the possession of firearms is constitutionally excessive. Indeed, the combined force of the Heller and Kennedy rulings, along with the notable and constitutionally significant public reactions to both decisions, make plain that the sentence Angelos is now serving violates “the evolving standards of decency that mark the progress of a maturing society.” Id. at 2664 (quoting Trop v. Dulles, 356 U.S. 86, 101 (1958)).
Download angelos_v. U.S. – Memo re MSJ.pdf
A few related posts on the legal history of the Angelos case: