Nessel Sends Letter To Whitmer In Support Of Michael Thompson

FLINT, MI — Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel sent a letter Wednesday to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer expressing her support for the commutation of the remainder of Michael Thompson’s decades-long prison sentence for offenses related to his sale of marijuana.

Thompson, 69, of Flint, was sentenced in 1996 to serve between 42 and 60 years in prison for selling roughly 3 pounds of marijuana to an undercover police informant. Marijuana is now a legal substance for recreational use in Michigan.

“A decades-long sentence like that imposed on Mr. Thompson is usually reserved for second-degree murder convictions or for particularly heinous rape cases involving multiple aggravated factors,” Nessel said. “Sentences of this length for selling marijuana are simply unheard of, even when accompanied by firearms offenses. Given that recreational and medicinal marijuana is now legal in Michigan, allowing Mr. Thompson to continue to serve this very draconian sentence is even more offensive and unreasonable.”

Thompson was sentenced under the Michigan Habitual Offender Law because he had weapons in his home at the time of his arrest, which he wasn’t supposed to have due to his prior convictions of non-violent low-level drug felonies in the early 1980s, the AG's office said.

In her letter, Nessel argues that Thompson would have been released from prison by March 2011 if he was charged and convicted of only the marijuana offenses. However, the felon-in-possession of a firearm and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony convictions are what led to his decades-long prison term, she said. While technically legal at the time, Nessel notes that the sentence imposed on Thompson is a product of a different time in Michigan history, when “draconian drug laws were prevalent” and preceding the adoption of legislative sentencing guidelines.

Nessel goes on to write that under today’s guidelines, Thompson’s offense would be sentenced to a maximum of four years’ imprisonment, or a maximum of eight years if charged as a second drug offense.

In her letter, Nessel also points out that current state law requires sentences to be reviewed for reasonableness under the “principle of proportionality,” which requires sentences imposed by a trial court to be proportionate to the seriousness of the circumstances surrounding the offense and the offender.

Nessel cannot commute a sentence, but can provide comment to the Michigan Parole Board and the governor, who has the authority to commute sentences.

Click here to view a copy of the Attorney General’s letter.