Jay-Z and his legal team are advocating for the release of Valon M. Vailes, a North Carolina man who has served over 13 years of a 20-year prison sentence for a non-violent marijuana charge.
Jay-Z Fighting For Release Of Incarcerated Fan Serving 20-Year Prison Sentence Over Marijuana
Page Six reported on Wednesday, The rapper’s legal team has made a plea – twice – to a North Carolina judge asking for the "compassionate release" of a man serving a 20-year prison sentence over marijuana.
In court documents that were submitted on Wednesday and obtained by Page Six─JAY-Z’s attorney, Alex Spiro, has made two pleas to a North Carolina judge to grant Vailes “compassionate release.” The first, filed in August, argued he is “a model inmate,” citing completed coursework and drug treatment, and added his family “desperately needs his support and assistance, and he does not present a recidivism risk.”
The motion was dismissed due to Valon Vailes’ COVID-19 vaccination record. Spiro filed a second motion on (September 29) in which he argued, “Mr. Vailes’ motion for compassionate release does not mention COVID-19 and does not rely on any COVID-19-related argument as a basis for arguing in favor of a reduced sentence.”
Vials’ case first came to the attention of Spiro and other members of Jay-Z’s legal team after the inmate penned an emotional letter to the" Empire State of Mind" rapper, who is the proud owner of the Cannabis company Monogram.
Back In December 2007, Vailes, now 55, was found guilty by a jury for conspiring to possess with the intent to distribute more than one ton of marijuana from 2003 to 2007. He was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison with an additional 10-year supervised release.
Page Six obtained an exclusive copy of the note to Jay-Z, which Vailes wrote from New York’s Otisville Correctional Facility back in February.
"This correspondence is a plea to ask for your help with the intent to campaign for my clemency," the letter read. "13 and a half years is a long time to be still incarcerated over a substance that has become the ultimate green rush."
The inmate concluded his note by stating that he can’t help but feel "some type of way" about the ongoing reform of marijuana legalization in the US knowing he is still behind bars.
"It is a bittersweet reality that I am a casualty and a commodity of this system filled with injustice," he wrote.
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