And ive kept it off. Golo is real, our customers are real, and our Success Stories are real. Why not give it a try . [medical machines beeping] wow. A busy body. Aww, look at that. [machines beeping] its a boy. Oh, my god, i knew it. All wow yeah, its a boy. [laughter] oh, wow. Congratulations. Oh, my god. Yeah. What names did you have picked out . Tyson. Tyson. Oh, thats cute. You did a great job, mom. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, i tried. Now its dads time to shine. This is his■this is his■ this is his time. Yeah. We owe this to him. This is■ you know, i think that blessings come■ i cant wait till he meet winston. Yeah, me too. And tyson. Yeah. Blessings always come on time. And i want us to have, like, this huge coming home party for him. He needs that, you know . He needs to feel that love. Like, we never let his hand go even though all the distance. Im sure thatll make him happy. Hopefully we dont have to wait too much longer to find out. Just pray. Nothing like prayer. [soft dramatic music] as the state of michigan takes on recreational sales of marijuana, one man is currently sitting in the Muskegon County correctional facility. Michael thompson sold three pounds of marijuana in the 90s. Thompson is considered the longest incarcerated nonviolent offender in michigans history. He was sentenced to 40 to 60 years in prison for selling weed to an undercover informant. The state says he was also in possession of a firearm. The gun wasnt in his possession during the crime. It was at his home while he sold the drugs at another location. Michael thompson was convicted in may 1996, a jury finding him guilty on five felony charges. The judge ordered thompson to serve decades in prison despite there being a plea deal at the time that wouldve resulted in probation. Because he was considered a habitual offender, thompson received a 40 to 60year prison sentence. The parole board has an opportunity to send his case to Governor Whitmer for clemency. The request for Clemency Will HitGovernor Whitmers desk tomorrow. [soft dramatic music] hello. Good morning. Morning. I wanna do lottery. Ima get a couple of these. Light breakfast. The thing i like about my lottery is being able to wait for it to come out and hope its your number. My dads Parole Hearing is like the best thing coming up right now for me. He was such a good man. Even when he went to prison for selling drugs and came home, General Motors offered him a job back again. And he got his job back. I guess he had this dream of how he wanted his life to be, and how he wanted to raise his children, and what he wanted for his children. So he probably wanted so much for us that he didnt have that much to offer. So he went to selling drugs. [line ringing] hey, kim. How are you . Hey, good. Do you have a minute . Sure. Mmhmm. I wanted to touch base with you. I asked you last week to follow up with the parole board for Michael Thompson. Yeah. Whats going on with that . Well, i havent gotten any response■ at least nothing that indicates something solid. I sent them another email indicating that it had been three weeks since they had responded. [scoffs] in Parole Boards in other states, people answer the phone. You can talk to members of the board. You can talk to their secretaries. Its just bizarre to me that no ones responsive to us. Yeah. Im gonna try and schedule a call with michael. I was just hoping we had something to give him, but sounds like■ i know. I wish. I wish. Well, give him my best. Im really■ well keep pushing. Okay. Thanks, katerina. Sure. Take care. Talk to you soon. Bye. Byebye. [call ends] [vacuum whooshing] the facts are someone came to michaels house, discussed purchasing marijuana. He went to another house, got that marijuana, and then delivered it to the confidential informant. And they used the Marijuana Sale to search his house for the guns. At no point was a gun referenced, utilized, brandished, spoken about. Without the guns, it still wouldve been an offensivelyhigh sentence for marijuana, but he wouldve been maxed at 15 years instead of a life sentence. Police and prosecutors packaged the weed and the guns together like they were one big crime. Three pounds of marijuana with no weapon. You see how it doesnt make sense when we go to talk about the guns . The guns have nothing to do with the drugs. His record is not very substantial in the first place. And to see this kind of sentence, i cant imagine what was going through the judges mind. I dont even think people would get sent to prison at all for those types of crimes today. Were really trying to keep our community safe, and nothing from these facts tell me that my community was unsafe based upon his actions. When you look at the whole of michael as a person, his convictions are an outlier for the things hes contributed. Prior to these convictions, michael was given the key to the city. He won awards through the naacp. He led a gang walk. Hes not a drug dealer whos turned himself around. Hes a Community Organizer who fell into some drug trafficking. [machine whirring] line 16. Its very hard to get clemency in michigan. You know, we have currently 33,500 people in prison. The chances of any one of those people getting their sentence commuted is vanishingly small. Makes me mad as hell. 915, 200. Everybody around michigan freely smoking. And that same product that they have, my fathers sitting behind bars for that item. The Cannabis Industry is projected to hit 24 billion in legal sales this year. We are not equal under the law in this country. One person gets on the cover of entrepreneur magazine. The other person gets ten years and life. There are more arrests for Marijuana Possession than Violent Crime every year in the u. S. Were seeing legalization, and yet people are still languishing behind bars for something that people are now profiting off of. [indistinct chatter] i heard jesse kind of■ manufacturing is up. Okay, i want yall to listen for a second. Daddy going to the front of the parole board at 9 00 a. M. , and i wanna thank you all for supporting me as a family. If they dont let him go this time, its over. 2038 would be the day he get out. Thats 20 years almost. Like, 19, 20 years. Its something i dont wanna see, because you think about it, you do the math. Hed be 90 years old when he get out■ if he make it. So if you go, just join your hands together with me as i try to say a prayer. Hold his hand. Hold right here. You good . Dear father, i come to you today in reference to my father, lord. Lord, im coming to you in good faith knowing that you are my number one provider. Lord, my father is on the way to a Parole Hearing, and i just need you to heal the hurts and touch the hearts of those that he would come in front of. Lord, i thank you for all that youve done for me and my children, my parents. Weve been following the growing anger surrounding Michael Thompsons lengthy sentence. That man is asking the governor for clemency■ something that was denied by the previous governor. Tweets from across the country call on Governor Whitmer to release him. Tens of thousands of people have written the governor and Parole Board Calling for his early release. The board must now vote whether to send his case to Governor Whitmer for commutation. Two new ihop lunch and dinner menu items for twice the goodness, twice the flavor, and twice the choice. Sirloin salisbury steak and allnatural salmon. Perfect for lunch or dinner. Only at ihop. Download the app and earn free food with every purchase. One prilosec otc each Morning Blocks heartburn all day and all night. 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And deliver ultracapacity 5g coverage thats years ahead of the competition. Tmobile for business has 5g thats ready right now. Well, hello. Good morning. Good morning. How are you . Great. How are you . Im fine. Nice to see you this morning. [singing] happy birthday to yo oh this is so nice. [laughs] [singing] happy birthday to yo wow. [singing] happy birthday, dear aww. Thats so nice. [singing] happy birthday to yo aww, thank you. [singing] may the good lord bless you. May the good lord bless you. [voice cracking] may the good lord. Bless you. May the good lord bless you. [sniffles] thats very nice. Thank you. Tim, do you have a number of how many people are speaking . Yeah, looks like theres 11 that have indicated at the moment that they want to. Okay, are you gonna do a time limit of some sort . Generally five minutes. I was gonna say five■ five is an awful long time. Feel free to shorten that if you want and■ oh, you think five minutes is a long time . Imagine being incarcerated 25 years. This is so irritating to me. Usually Board Members are given two, but, i mean, you can say a lot in two minutes. [scoffs] okay. Its just coming up over here as far as down, right . But when you look in here, they can see you directly in the face, okay . Okay. All right, mr. Thompson, now ill give you an opportunity to make an opening statement, if youd like to. Yeah, i waited■ i waited 25 years to get to this point. And i■you know, i hurt a lot of people. You know what im saying . Especially my family. Im not that person anymore. I dont have that criminal mentality anymore. Period. Im done with that. All i wanna do is get back to my life, get back to my life and get back■ you know what im saying . Try to build me some kind of foundation for my kids. All right. Thank you. I think the thing that attracted me to take this case is that its the most disparate sentencing ive seen in my career, which says a lot. Because i handle a lot of postconviction matters and a lot of matters that deal with these kind of injustices. Beyond that, the governor in michigan has unabashedly held the position that nobody should suffer lifelong consequences for marijuana convictions. We cant give michael back the quarter of a century he spent incarcerated, so he will inevitably face lifelong consequences for this conviction. But we can commute the harm thats being done to him and his family with this ongoing incarceration. My father has grandchildren that he has not met. He even has great grandchildren he has not met. And i just want to bring him home with me. We could build a relationship, and get our life back on track like we used to have. He would give anyone a shirt off his back. He has a very good sense of humor. Mr. Thompson has always been a great person, entrepreneur. He has so many friends in the Community Waiting for his release. Michael has demonstrated a lasting positive effect on those around him. Today, i ask for a measurement of mercy and justice. We believe the time michael has served has repaid any debt he may have owed to society many times over. I am 25 years old. So this sentence that he has served is literally inconceivable to me. It is a lifetime. After learning that this man has served 25 years out of a 40 to 60year sentence for selling marijuana, i was just compelled to do my part. We must do the right things, and im urging the parole board. Please release this man so he can spend the rest of his life getting the chance to know his family. Mr. Thompson stated that he no longer has a criminal mentality, and that alone says it all. Its about whether we in the state of michigan believe that his sentence was good. This man does not deserve to die in a prison cell. Well, that was■ that was a. [exhales] [sighs, sniffling] [clears throat] im thankful to everybody. That was really. Thats all i got say. Im thankful. Okay. Mr. Thompson, i■i obviously■ i mean, hearing all of that, you have a tremendous amount of support and i understand why youre emotional. As i mentioned. Hello. This is a prepaid debit call from. [indistinct chatter] Michael Thompson. An inmate at the Michigan Department of corrections. To accept this call, press zero. [keypad beeps] to refuse this call■ [chuckling] [laughs] this call is from a Correction Facility and is subject to monitoring and recording. [crying] [children playing] [birds chirping] [clock ticking] [dog barking distantly] [clock continues ticking] [soft dramatic music] hey, michael. So do you know why were calling . I heard that there was supposed to be some kind of press Conference Release sometime today. Thats what i heard. Well, im excited to tell you that Governor Whitmer has granted clemency, a commutation, to none other than Michael Thompson. [laughs softly] wow. Can you believe it . [sighs] how are you feeling . [laughs softly] good. Real good. Its good. Its real good. [voice breaking] real, real good. You dont know its been a hard journey, man. A hard journey, believe me. [upbeat guitar music] [cheers and applause] [guitar music] hi, girls. Can you say hi . Hi. Can you say hi . Hi, princess. Hey. I wanna say welcome home and give him a big hug. Hey. [overlapping chatter] thats my daughter. [laughter] hey. Everybody look like■ you know what im saying . [chatter] [singing] been traveling these wide roads for so long. My hearts been far from you, 10,000 miles gone. Once we strip away this artifice of thinking that the drug war is about actually helping people, we can see more clearly how unjust it is. If you were to not just look at what is the exact charge someones incarcerated on, but how did they sort of enter this revolving door, youll find that it had something to do with weed. It is a gateway. It is a gateway to mass incarceration, and thats how we should be talking about weed being a gateway drug. Across this country, people are voting to strike down these laws against marijuana. Legalization will give us some financial tools that we can use through taxation and investment to try to repair some of the harms of both, you know, longstanding racial injustices and the specific negative impacts of the war on drugs. [singing] i wanna go, wanna go, wanna go. Singers [singing] i wanna know, wanna know, wanna know. At one time i didnt think i was gonna ever get out. Just people like the ones i mentioned really, really, really kept me alive. And now i can get that out the way. Now i was gonna let you know im happy. [laughter] yeah [cheers and applause] [singing] ooh. Oh, whoa. Singers [singing] take me to yo i wanna go. [singing] lord. Please let me know. Singers [singing] take me to your river. I wanna go. Id like to thank our sponsor Liberty Mutual. They customize your Car Insurance, so you only pay for what you need. Contestants ready . Go only pay for what you need. Jingle liberty. 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