One Ounce of Pot, 16 Years in Prison: The Harrowing Real-Life Story of Trent Bouhdida
Over the course of three months in 2015, PenPals.Buzz member Trent Bouhdida sold undercover officer Ronald Elcock (call me Kev) a total of one ounce of marijuana. Eight months later, he was arrested by two U.S. Marshalls, while attempting to drive his wife (who had recently given birth) to a job interview. He never made it to the job interview, but he did make it to the county jail. And after two mistrials, and a relentless prosecution, Arizona prosecutors finally found a jury who would convict him. Bouhdida received over 16 years in state prison for selling what is, in most states, completely legal. Why would Arizona undercover officers devote months of time to bust a law-abiding 21-year-old father who had a 3-month-old son and was working full time in customer service? Why not go after people committing real crimes? And how is it possible that any judge in any court in any state in America could ever sentence someone to 16 years for selling an ounce of weed, and be able to sleep well at night? Shocking, right? But perhaps the most remarkable part of this story is Trent's resilience and positive attitude throughout this ordeal. Listen as Big Steve and Daisy interview Trent Bouhdida, via telephone from his prison in Arizona, and learn why he feels his lengthy prison sentence has changed his life for the better.
We rarely make judgements without hearing all the evidence, but it's safe to say this case is a complete joke, and Trent was done a huge disservice by the legal system. First, he was entrapped into selling one ounce of marijuana to a man pretending to be his friend. The one ounce was separated into 1/4 ounce packets, under the guise of being needed for medicinal purposes. A fine? We'd understand that. A few months in county jail? We would understand that. 2 years in prison? We would even understand that, I suppose. But to give this educated father and family man an over 16-year prison sentence, to tear apart his newborn child from him, to destroy his family, all because some undercover officer bought a total of one ounce of marijuana from him over a lengthy period of time, to us this is the epitome of disgusting, and shows just how horrific our legal system can be. Even more disgusting is that an actual law was put into place to "reconsider" some of these long sentences for sales of tiny amounts of marijuana. But some judge decided Trent Bouhdida didn't qualify for this relief, due to some bogus prior conviction as a juvenile.
Why does this anger us? For one, you'll regularly see wife-beaters, men who beat the living crap out of their wife, girlfriend, even their children, and what do they get? Maybe 90 days, maybe just probation. You'll see people, one guest who was even on this podcast, who drove drunk and killed a person in her car, and got a 6-year sentence. A guy I know stabbed someone in a bar, killed him, and got a 10-year sentence for manslaughter. So do we really want to give Trent, a man who sold a freaking ounce of marijuana (which is legal in many states) to prison for over 16 years, while people who take other people's lives get far less time? Really? Then don't ever let us hear you use the word Justice or Fairness again.