I think if the majority decision had simply said that it would have been less painful for Richard Paey.
Paey is wheel chair bound, suffers from multiple sclerosis and chronic back pain due to a botched surgery after a car accident. Paey is also the father of three children and had no prior criminal background. Yet amazingly the Florida District Court of Appeals upheld Paey’s conviction of 25 years in prison. Here are some fine points of irony to consider:
In prison– a place not exactly known for medical kindness– he has been given a morphine pump, which now daily gives him similar or higher doses of medication than he was convicted of possessing illegally.
And from the dissent:
I suggest that it is unusual, illogical, and unjust that Mr. Paey could conceivably go to prison for a longer stretch for peacefully but unlawfully purchasing 100 oxycodone pills from a pharmacist than had he robbed the pharmacist at knife point, stolen fifty oxycodone pills which he intended to sell to children waiting outside, and then stabbed the pharmacist…
Of course, there has been an appeal to the amazing hypocrite Jeb Bush, who has already stated he won’t grant clemency to Mr. Paey. Ironically, his daughter, Noelle Bush is a multiple drug offender. Noelle supposedly fraudulently obtained prescription drugs at a Walgreen’s, the very same crime that Paey is convicted of, yet where is Noelle Bush? Certainly not serving 25 years in prison. By comparison, Noelle Bush got off with a slap on the wrist. And what about that other stand up Florida resident Rush “Cabbage” Limbaugh? Another slap on the wrist for his fairly serious drug addiction. But Richard Paey? Toss him in jail for 25 years.
Incidentally, the police did a commando style raid on Paey’s home when they busted him.
