Free George Martorano » Commutation of Sentence

Why President Obama Should Release George Martorano

John Flahive — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 02:37:28 +0000

George Martorano was a low level “pot” dealer in the 70′s-he was approched by “agents”, and supposedly led a 3 year, 75 MILLION dollar, drug smuggling ring-after 3 years of “agent orchastrated” drug deals that George could have never done WITHOUT them, he was arrested, plead guilty, and was given a LIFE NO PAROLE sentence. A LIFE NO PAROLE SENTENCE??? ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? Noriega was “freed”, Manson gets parole hearings. I gotta ask again- ARE YOU KIDDING ME???? While I have been asked, and stated before, “did George need to face punishment for his crimes?? OF COURSE.” But to have all hope ripped away for a non-violent “orchastrated” 1st time offense is absurd. George has spent 26 years in federal prison-he has paid his debt for his crimes-enough is enough.
George’s “Commutation of Sentence” petition was denied by the “out-going” George Bush on Nov 24th-they waited until his birthday on Dec 21st to tell him-hmmm, coincidence, or arrorgance-you decide. George will not give up-neither will I. Someone has to see that ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. What good does it do, to keep someone like George locked up any longer?? 26 years, I DO THINK HE HAS LEARNED HIS LESSON. Is it personal??? Does someone really hate this man enough to MAKE SURE HE NEVER GETS OUT?? This is crazy folks-our prisons are full. WHY??? because of craziness like this.
Hopefully this year will be the year-the year that somebody in Washington takes notice that we have a real problem within our courts and prisons-while the crime rates have dropped, inmate populations just keep rising-something is wrong with that. WHY IS THERE NO FEDERAL PAROLE??? Great question, still no valid answer. WHY DO WE BUILD NEW PRISONS THAT WE CAN’T FUND and NOT SCHOOLS??? Another great question, still no valid answer. Prison and Sentencing Reform really need to be issues this “CHANGE” administration look at- AND SOON.
We, George and I, will continue to persue “avenues” of relief-after all, we do live in country that founded upon a “Second Chance”. We can only hope and pray that President Obama does make change-that he does give hope to people like George-that he gives George that “Second Chance”. While we have to wait till Nov to re-submit George’s Plea for a Commutation to the White House, we do not have to wait to encourage the President to make change, bring federal parole back, and release the NON-VIOLENT OFFENDERS that have been locked up way too long.

Longest Serving Non-Violent 1st Time Offender in the WORLD??

George Martorano — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 17:03:22 +0000

It is rumored throughout some of the prison reform group movements, that I, George Martorano, may be the “LONGEST SERVING NON-VIOLENT 1st TIME OFFENDER IN THE WORLD”, with the charges and sentence I received. There may be others that have been caged longer, but I believe their crimes were far more serious.
Imagine, for I am the one the talk is about, and I find that insane-anyone else??
I have been caged for 26 years and this is is what I truely ponder daily… “I have been caged 26 years, I would take 26 HOURS of “normal life” away from the zookeepers-then they could return me here, place me against the taxpayers prison wall and shoot me down”
As I have stated in numerous writtings, Americans believe in their justice system-believe that all the mad animals are locked away-believe they are safe since the “bad guys” are locked up-believe that the prison systems rehab criminals before release. I am here to tell you NOT ALL of that is true. Most of the guys I have met along my journey are guys just like me AND YOU-people who got greedy or stupid and involved themselves with crime. I have agreed through the years that yes, I needed to be punished for mine-But, what happens when they throw you away with no hope? You go mad, locked in a cage-I have not, but do see the many that have. All I am really trying to say is, that, when you punish someone, do it right. I have been punished long enough for my crimes and have earned a “second chance”. When and how do I get it??
Right now the American economy is facing the worst of times-people get bills in their mail slots they are afraid to open-jobs are gone-stock markets are unsteady-banks are folding-things are tough-I know at times like this it’s hard to think about me and my plight, but I suffer daily in ways none of you could ever imagine-Please, I ask everyone that visits this blog and the WeBelieveGroup website, write, email or call the White House. Express your support for my release-26 years caged is enough, I DID NOT KILL ANYONE and have read recently how the guy up in Georgia that KILLED A JUDGE and 3 others got the same sentence as me-MAKE SENSE????

My Take

John Flahive — Thu, 03 May 2007 19:28:30 +0000

I asked both George and Nikola if it would be ok for me to post a “sort of rant” with many questions raised throughout. I would love to hear any and all feedback from what I am going to raise here…

I have been visiting George ever since I met his sister – when she told me of her brother and how he was given a life no parole sentence for what amounted to about 2400 lbs of “pot”, I could not believe that the courts put people in jail for LIFE for something so minor. Some might say, well, 2400lbs, that’s alot of pot, not really, and bottomline it is JUST pot. I asked myself how many people could have possibly died from pot-after some investigating I found that NO-ONE has died from pot. So why was George given a LIFE NO PAROLE sentence??

Well, after looking into George’s case alittle and meeting with him at Coleman numerous times, it was easy to see why he was where he was, he was SCREWED!! Answer this, George plead guilty to his crime, and YES they threw ALL the conspiracy charges of intent with heroin and cocaine and this and that, bottomline is all they had was 2400lbs of pot, so why such a HARSH UNJUST sentence??

George was led to believe by his lawyer Bobby Simone that by pleading guilty, he would recieve a 10 year sentence. Do I think George should have gotten a 10 year sentence? Actually I said 10 to 15, but when you think about it 10 years is a long long time-George has been in 24 now-damn, how does he do it?? yup, You can try to answer that too. The judge said George was uncooperative and gave him the harshest of all sentences ALLOWABLE, LWOP-he plead guilty and knew nothing that they did’nt already know. how cooperative can one be?? They wanted George to “roll”-he had nothing to give them but his guilty plea-he was screwed. He knew, I know now, he needed to be punished for his crime, BUT, LIFE NO PAROLE – how can this happen in a country that prides itself on “justice” and freedoms?

George has had a “Commutation of Sentence” petition under concideration for 3 years or there about- Why does it take so long to get a yes or no answer? George is ready to come home and should be granted “time served”-if not, why doesn’t the White House or Pardon Attorney just say NO – this way George can pursue his next avenue of obtaining relief. How is it that I see cases out there where the “kingpin” was far more involved, and for much longer, yet have lighter sentences with hope?? How can ALL HOPE be takin away from someone guilty of a NON-VIOLENT crime?? This is nuts folks, or am I nuts??

I did not know George 24 years ago – but I know him today – he is ready for a second chance – he should be given that chance – he did not kill anyone – he took responsibility for his crime, he has served 24 years, he has educated himself, he has endured the deaths of his wife, his father, and his son, while imprisoned – he teaches other inmates, he’s published a book, I could go on and on, MY POINT IS…. When is enough, Enough??

I want to be safe out here – I want my 82 year old mother safe out here – I nor her or for this matter, no one is any safer because George Martorano is locked up, he is of no threat to society and has paid any and all debts to society for his crime – hell, he’s working on high interest now. I email, and mail the President, George Bush at the White House, and various other governement agencies with my support of freeing George, I ask that if you could just take 5 minutes, and send one for him too-it’s real easy, all you have to do is go to this address and express your support to release George with “TIME SERVED”… comments@whitehouse.gov.

PS (If your not going to take the 5 minutes to do that, could you take 2 minutes to tell me why at… webelievegroup@msn.com. Thanx