Pubdate: Tue, 23 Mar 2004 Source: Fresno Bee, The (CA) Copyright: 2004 The Fresno Bee Contact: http://www.fresnobee.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/161 Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?199 (Mandatory Minimum Sentencing) IS JUSTICE SERVED? Wrong Place, Wrong Time: 10 Years In Prison For Someone Else's Pot. Some stories so dramatically illustrate the shortcomings of our criminal justice system that they take your breath away. The prosecution of Miguel Mendoza Palominos is such a story. Palominos, a 21-year-old illegal immigrant from Mexico, was convicted recently in federal court of manufacturing 1,000 marijuana plants. His guilt is not in question. According to his attorney, Palominos, who is illiterate, grew up in extreme poverty in Mexico. He never attended school and spent his childhood begging for food on the streets. Lured to the United States with promises of a job in agriculture, he was taken to remote Tehama County, where he was put to work watering marijuana plants. He was there only two months when he was caught in a raid. The lowliest cog in a huge marijuana growing operation, he was the only one apprehended. Under federal sentencing guidelines, Judge William Shubb had minimal discretion. Because of the huge number of plants involved and the fact that deputies found a semiautomatic pistol in Palominos' backpack, Shubb was required to sentence him to 10 years in prison for conduct that he noted, "the majority of the people in California believe should be legalized." Palominos' youth, his lack of sophistication, the fact that he had never even gotten paid or that he was looking for a way to feed his mother and sisters back in Mexico didn't matter. Nor did it matter that the principals in the crime, the people who exploited Palominos, were never caught, that they are free to plant new gardens. Certainly what Palominos did was wrong and deserving of punishment. Illegal pot farms have turned California wilderness areas into war zones. The criminals guarding hidden marijuana groves endanger the public. Palominos was armed. Still, it's hard to see how locking a poor, desperate youth from Mexico away for 10 years while the principals in the operation go free helps solve the problem or advances justice. It's hard to understand how it will deter the next desperate illegal immigrant from being lured north to water pot plants. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom