But the details of Mr. Gregg's life and the life sentence he is now serving highlight a major problem in our criminal justice system: mandatory minimum sentencing, an offshoot of our misguided "war on drugs."
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As a result, the proportion of drug offenders sentenced to prison has swelled from 79 percent in 1998 to 93 percent in 2004. Many of those are serving extraordinarily long sentences, receiving little or no addiction treatment, and growing older, sicker and more in need of taxpayer-provided medical care.
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Mr. Gregg was a user, a seller, a "snitch" for the FBI. His early life was marked by abuse and instability, suicide attempts, jails and prison stays. As a drug user, Mr. Gregg resorted to selling crack cocaine not kilos, but several grams at a time out of a hotel room in a run-down section of Richmond, Va.
Not unexpectedly, he was arrested and convicted. A district judge sentenced Mr. Gregg to the mandatory term of life imprisonment, required by statute, at the discretion of the prosecutor, for a third conviction of a felony drug offense.
When Mr. Gregg's case came before me and my colleagues on appeal, there was nothing we could do but uphold the sentence of life in prison. The appellate court, like the disapproving trial court, found its hands were tied.
I do not believe Mr. Gregg deserves life in prison the kind of sentence often imposed on convicted murderers but I am handicapped by mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines, set by the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986.
And Mr. Gregg's is far from the only story that underscores the kind of handcuffing by mandatory minimums that U.S. judges habitually face.
After 25 years of watching countless Tony Greggs serve out impossibly long sentences for transgressions that would be better served by drug treatment and social safety nets, I say with certainty that mandatory minimums are unfair and unjust. They cost taxpayers too much money and make very little sense.
