I have no sympathy for drug dealers, but still - this is a strange story. Joseph A. Shepard, 53, is in jail for drug-related charges.
His attorney told him that his case is making its way in federal court so he should sit tight and wait. So wait, he did - for two years in jail ... meanwhile, his lawyer, the prosecutor, and everybody forgot all about him:
Shepard, 53, is a man the system forgot, apparently ignored by his own attorney — and the prosecutor and judge — as days ticked by in a municipal lockup where he was confined to a cell 23 hours a day.
Shepard was surprised when a reporter broke the news at the Jennings jail Wednesday night that his case had been forgotten. It was more than a month after prosecutors took steps to move the case forward, though he still had not been told about it by his lawyer.
"Good. That's what I've been hoping for — something like that," he said. "I kind of figured that, after two years of nothing happening."
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/9F383B4342A46DDC862574B50014E785?OpenDocument - via Look At This
This is a horror story. Justice is Justice - it does not matter WHAT the allegations are!
In New York, there was a case about an immigrant arrested and forgotten in jail for 6 months over a violation
People should be able to do drugs if they wish,it's only a crime because it's been designated so.
If it hadn't been for prohibition the US would not have had such problems with organised crime. Make a thing illegal it doesn't go away and it becomes the preserve of criminals.
Irrespective of all that,this incareceration may have been illegal,but the grammar of the headline is a true crime.