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| Now 68 years old, Dustin Costa is in prison in Colorado. |
Very interesting that Calaveras County pretty much did not cover
an arrest in Merced County of a marijuana grower in 2005.
His name was Dustin Costa (Dusty) and his is now in Federal Prison for conviction of growing marijuana and owning a firearm.
Why is this interesting? Because this weekend in the 50 year reunion of the Calaveras High School class of 1964 (Bret Harte too). Dustin Costa graduated from Calaveras High that year.
If you type in the name online, the story printed in the papers in that area tell of his medical
marijuana organization before California actually began encouraging the use.
He has now been incarcerated in Colorado for nearly 8 years and is not due to be released until 2018. Will the new lessening of drug laws help him get out earlier? Not sure, since he is in Federal prison, not state prison.
Since he was a local boy, is a Marine vet and was prosecuted by the Feds instead of local law enforcement, we are going to follow this man's story and see what happens.
14 comments:
I'll say it's interesting. Why are the veterans not trying to help their fellow veteran? Could he be released early? What is the gun charge about?
Why is it Federal instead of California?
this is unbelievable. Is he a hardened criminal or just a pot grower that was used by the Feds as an example.
He's in prison for growing pot--in the most liberal pot state of the union? Colorado. that's hilarious!
could be because at least one low life that I know of would rather spend his time harassing and threatening women and the President! I can read, you know.
Murderers and sex offenders don't get that kind of sentence. What's going on here?
Setting an example for any others who might want to grow?
OMG! I agree! Low lifes are threatening women and the president.I bet he is a racist cop!!
I agree that murderers do not get this much time. Something is wrong.
Dusty clearly got a raw deal. Steve Kubby, charged with the same crime under nearly identical circumstances, was acquitted by a California court sympathetic to medical marijuana users. Ed Rosenthal was convicted of the same crime in federal court, but was sentenced to one day, already served while waiting to make bail. Many other medical marijuana growers had their plants seized but were never prosecuted. Dusty got 13 years, including 5 years because when they searched his house they found a shotgun. Since he owned the gun during the period in which he committed the federal felony of growing marijuana, he was convicted of "using" a firearm during the commission of a felony. Dusty never used the gun and never threatened anyone with it. He was essentially sentenced to an additional 5 years for exercising his Second Amendment right to own a fire arm. Dusty was probably singled out for prosecution because he was an in-your-face political activist medical marijuana advocate. They threw the book at him to make an example out of him so other (legal under California law) medical marijuana dispensaries would close down to avoid federal prosecution. He went to trial with a public defender, probably because the feds seized all his assets. Dusty was railroaded. He is a thoughtful, intelligent, non-violent person who does not belong in prison.
that was a well-thought out and intelligently written comment. What can any of us do to help him. He's been in there so long.
I wrote to Dusty asking what I could do to help. He said it would help to get the story of his case out to the public. He also said letters like mine are extremely rare in prison, and that he really appreciated hearing from anyone interested in his plight. The goal of the government seems to be to cut him off from society, and they have been very successful. He phoned me immediately upon receiving my letter and explained what I had to do to establish email contact through Corrlinks.com, because his telephone time is very limited, and he needs to reserve it for urgent matters. Dusty's address is:
Dustin Costa #62406097
USP Florence ADMAX Satellite Camp
P.O. Box 5000
Florence, CO 81226
If you snail mail him your full name, address, and email address (all required by Corrlinks) he can initiate the Corrlinks connection, which might save you some frustration navigating through their online procedure.
Dusty has spent the last 3,200 days behind bars and has over 1,400 days to go. Let's try to get him out early.
How come none of us knew about him before this?
With the horrible crimes that are committed thru out the world, how can we keep a farmer and a veteran in prison taking up space that allows real criminals the ability to serve a shorter sentence due the overpopulation of the correctional institute? Someone needs to get this to the attention of people that can make changes happen.
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