No Longer Paeying the Price For Being In Pain

The conviction of Richard Paey was one of the ugliest badges of dishonor in this nation's entire sorry war on drugs, and that's saying something. Proving that wonders never cease, and that reason sometimes prevails, Paey was unexpectedly ordered released today.

Richard Paey is a chronic pain patient in year three of a 25-year mandatory-minimum sentence for trafficking in drugs — his own pain medication. But his freedom is just hours away. Gov. Charlie Crist and the Florida Cabinet voted unanimously to grant Paey a full pardon Thursday morning for his 2004 conviction on drug trafficking and possession charges. "We aim to right a wrong and exercise compassion and to do it with grace," the governor said. "Congratulations ... and I state he should be released today." With that, Paey's wife Linda, their three children, a family friend and attorney John Flannery II hugged and cried at the podium, the entire cabinet meeting room erupting into applause at 9:40 a.m.

Kudos to Charlie Crist and his colleagues. OK, what they did perhaps doesn't rise to the level of genuine bravery. (How 'brave' do you have to be to draw a distinction between a by all accounts upstanding family man who's in excruciating pain, and some lowlife gun-toting Pablo Escobar wannabe?) Still, Crist and his crew could have stuck their heads in the sand, repeating the 'nothing-to-see, move-along' mantra mumbled by so many public servants as soon as the topic turns to drug convictions. That's what Crist's predecessor Jeb Bush did (perhaps because the Bush family genes are not programmed to produce anything resembling fairness, compassion, or competence).

Crist is cut from a different cloth, and Florida should congratulate itself on a governor who appears to know the difference between dogma and truth, between swagger and substance, and between justice and cruelty.

Welcome home, Richard.

Comments

[Dave]

I agree with you wholeheartedly. It was indeed some welcome news. Though most of us never met either of them I'm sure thousands of us made a toast Friday night to Richard Paey and Charley Crist. A governor with a brain and compassion as well, who'd a thunk it?

[benpal]

I'm equally happy that this sad story ends. But I can't agree with this statement "to grant Paey a full pardon". There is no pardon to be granted to Paey, he was unjustly deprived of his liberty. And we shouldn't grant the state any pardon at all. They will have to generously compensate Paey and his family for the damage done.

[Peter Parker]

My quick research of Florida law indicates that a pardon does not automatically result in a person's record being expunged. Paey should get that too. Did he?

http://www.fdle.state.fl.us/expunge/faq.html#11