Man serving 7.5 years on marijuana case says Kansas’ sentencing laws aren’t just
A man sentenced to more than seven years in prison on a marijuana case wants Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly to consider his request for clemency and to see the state change its drug penalty laws.
Donte Westmoreland, 25, had no prior convictions when he was found guilty of possession of marijuana with intent to distribute and conspiracy to distribute in May 2017 in Riley County. Judge John Bosch sentenced him to 92 months.
“I felt shocked. I felt like I wasn’t being treated equal in the courtroom,” Westmoreland said during a phone call from Lansing Correctional Facility, where he recently recovered from COVID-19. “Why take eight years from me?”
Kansas has a sentencing range guideline intended to promote uniformity in penalties.
Bosch gave Westmoreland the lower end of the range.
But Christopher Joseph, Westmoreland’s attorney during sentencing and his appeal, said many judges across the state depart from the guidelines for marijuana cases, instead handing down probation.
“He was the first guy I’ve ever had sentenced to prison on a marijuana conviction — first, ever,” Joseph said. “And I’ve been doing it 17 years at that point.
“In Geary County, no one goes to prison unless they just beg for it on marijuana. Geography matters.”
According to a motion filed in the case, probation was given in 95% of the marijuana distribution cases in Kansas involving defendants with low criminal history scores.
Traffic stop
On March 8, 2016, police observed two vehicles traveling in close proximity to each other. Officers testified that they believed a Hyundai was an escort vehicle for a Lexus.
Westmoreland, of Stockton, California, was a passenger in the Hyundai, which was stopped for an obstructed license plate and searched in Geary County. A small amount of marijuana was found in the trunk, according to court documents.
The Hyundai was released and it continued to an apartment complex in Riley County, where the Lexus met them about 20 minutes later. Officers followed them to the apartment of Jacob Gadwood, where they searched the Lexus and found packages of drugs.
Westmoreland and the driver of the Hyundai were arrested. Three other co-defendants who fled the scene were later taken into custody.
Gadwood agreed to become an informant for prosecutors and testified that Westmoreland came to his apartment to sell marijuana.
The five defendants in the case faced varying charges related to possessing and distributing marijuana, court records showed. Sentences ranged from time served to Westmoreland’s 92 months, which was the longest.
In a statement to The Star, Riley County Attorney Barry Wilkerson said Westmoreland went to Manhattan to sell large amounts of marijuana with three others in two vehicles, one of which was a decoy.
“These were sophisticated dealers of narcotics,” Wilkerson said. “One of the vehicles was a Lexus. 92 months was a fair sentence under the circumstances.”
Drug laws
In Kansas, a defendant could serve a longer sentence for marijuana crimes than violent crimes such as voluntary manslaughter.
“The current Kansas law and penalties for marijuana are unjust,” Joseph said.
“The law is so out of sync with reality at this point.”
Lauren Bonds, legal director of the ACLU of Kansas, said Kansas is being closed in on.
Recreational marijuana became legal in Colorado in 2014. Missouri and Oklahoma have passed medicinal marijuana laws and Nebraska has taken steps to decriminalize the drug.
“Marijuana should be de-felonized across the board,” Bonds said. “We’re very much hoping that these types of sentencing reforms can not only reduce the number of folks who are going into prison but generally alleviate the mass incarceration crisis in the state.”
Bonds said state legislators also need to re-examine sentencing guidelines.
“Even though the grid is supposed to remove some of the arbitrariness of sentencing, there is still discretion within the grid and for whatever reason, the book got thrown at Donte,” she said.
“I think Donte’s case is a very unfortunate example of what happens when we continue to just say the current grid is good.”
Kansas Sen. Richard Wilborn, R-McPherson, chairs the Judiciary Committee and said sentencing guidelines is one of the topics “in the forefront.”
He said he would take any recommendations from the Criminal Justice Reform Commission seriously, but that legislation has to be proportional with other illegal substances and not target a single issue.
Westmoreland said he supports reforms that address racial and sentencing disparities.
Twenty-eight percent of the Kansas Department of Corrections’ population is Black. According to the U.S. Census, Black people make up 6.1% of the state.
Earlier this year, Westmoreland submitted a clemency application to Gov. Laura Kelly’s office. The request included letters of support from Lansing Warden Shannon Meyer, Sen. Randall Hardy, R-Salina, and Rep. John Alcala, D-Topeka.
In his request, Westmoreland wrote about his work speaking to troubled youth through a court program and said he hopes he can be released to raise his two younger brothers.
“Granting me my freedom means giving me a second chance with my life, a second change with my brothers to show what not to do in life, and most of all a second chance to show the State of Kansas I am worthy and capable of being a productive member to society,” he wrote.
Kelly’s office is in the process of reviewing the clemency request, spokeswoman Lauren Fitzgerald said.
