Utah resident Weldon Angelos sold three eight-ounce bags of marijuana to a police informant. He had a gun, but it was not used or even taken out during the drug sale. His conviction for possession of a firearm in a drug transaction meant that he was sentenced to the federal mandatory minimum of 55 years.

Mr. Angelos appealed his sentence up through the court system, and it reached the Supreme Court in December. The judge who originally sentenced him called the sentence, “unjust, cruel, and irrational,” and 145 former prosecutors and judges wrote letters or briefs in support of a lower sentence. The Supreme Court let the 55-year sentence stand. The case was Angelos v. U.S., 06-26.

This news brief is based on a story in the Salt Lake Tribune, Supreme Court lets Utah man's 55-year prison sentence stand [1]. If the link is broken, check the newspaper’s archives.