He was an up-and-coming music producer, working with Snoop Dogg, Tupac Shakur and other rappers.
But Weldon Angelos, of Salt Lake City, has become famous for something else.
He was convicted of selling a relatively small amount of marijuana while carrying a gun.
For that offense, under the federal minimum mandatory guidelines, Angelos was sentenced to 55 years in prison. The prosecutor changed his heart and mind, and Angelos only served 13 years.
Bob Evans sat down with Angelos and asked him three questions:
- Take us back to that moment in the courtroom, where a judge is about to pronounce the sentence upon you. Did you have any idea what he was going to say? And when he finally said 55 years in a federal prison, what went through your heart and mind?
- Tell me what it is you're doing now to change the system, to help those like you, who have been sentenced to long sentences in prison for crimes that don't warrant those kinds of sentences. What are you doing?
- What have you learned about yourself through the arrest, the conviction, the appeals (unsuccessful though they were), and then finally, your release?
The full interview with Angelos can be seen below:
