Profiles of Injustice

Faces of FAMM

Below are some of our federal case profiles. If you are looking for a particular type of case, please contact us as we have additional case profiles in our database.

For state case profiles, please click here.

Mandy Martinson was "guilty by association" in her boyfriend's drug case.

Eugenia was sentenced to almost 22 years in federal prison for crack cocaine, despite her judge's objections.

After David's wife was seriously injured and could no longer work, the family needed money. David's solution was to grow marijuana.

After selling crack for six months, DeJarion was arrested and sentenced to twenty years in prison when he was just 23 years old.   At his sentencing, U.S. District Judge Walter S. Smith, Jr. said, “This is one of those situations where I’d like to see a Congressman sitting before me.”

Lisa’s downward spiral began with the death of her nine-year-old son. Consumed by grief, she drank heavily and within five years developed a severe methamphetamine addiction.  She married her live-in boyfriend, an abusive man who spent her money and sent her to the emergency room on several occasions.

Sabrina is serving a mandatory 12-year prison sentence for involvement in her boyfriend's methamphetamine conspiracy.

Tammi's life was shattered when she was implicated in her husband's cocaine conspiracy and sentenced to almost 20 years in federal prison.  At the time the conspiracy took place, Tammi was working full time, attending nursing classes, and caring for her two young children.

Once addicted to methamphetamine, Barbara has turned her life around in prison but is still serving a 30-year sentence.

Lamont and Lawrence were arrested just months after their graduation from Howard University, when they became entangled in the criminal justice system through another man's cocaine conspiracy.  Both had worked part-time for five years to pay their college tuition and were planning to become lawyers.

Weldon, age 27, is condemned to remain behind bars until 2059, when he will be 78.  Although dozens of former judges and prosecutors, including Weldon's sentencing judge, condemned the sentence as unconstitutional and petitioned President Bush for a pardon, Weldon remains behind bars, away from his wife and young children.

After 13 years in prison for alleged involvement in a crack cocaine conspiracy in North Carolina, Alva Mae Groves died in federal prison on August 9, 2007.

At the age of 19, Brian was sentenced to 11 years and 3 months in federal prison for a drug conspiracy.

Hamedah Hasan, a mother of three, was sentenced to 27 years in federal prison for furthering a drug conspiracy involving other family members.

Dana's involvement in a drug conspiracy was motivated by her addiction to meth, and resulted in a 19-year, seven months federal sentence.  

Stephanie, a first-time offender, is sering a 7-year sentence in federal prison.

Although only 5.6 grams of crack were attributed to Marcus at the time of his arrest, he was held accountable for 37.4 grams based on the statements made by the informant and the other witness. Marcus was 24 years old and had been addicted to drugs for six years, beginning shortly after his mother’s death in 1993 and escalating throughout his early twenties.

Deborah's addiction to methamphetamine eventually led to a 10-year mandatory minimum sentence.

When sentencing Juan, Judge Laffitte said, “I pass sentence in this case with a heavy heart because of the youth of this defendant, but that’s what the law says, and that’s what I have to do.”

Greg Cooke’s case is emblematic of the current drug conspiracy laws.  Greg was found guilty of conspiracy to distribute cocaine hydrochloride but was found not guilty of the two counts of possession of cocaine that were leveled against him.