A 51 year-old paraplegic was given a seven-year prison sentence last week for violating probation after police testified that he was selling marijuana.
Louis Covar Jr., was arrested last March for felony marijuana possession and was subsequently handed a seven-month probation. Judge J. Carlisle Overstreet told Covar in March that if he was to continue to use marijuana medically that he should “keep it to himself.” Last Friday Judge Overstreet said, “He’s been in a bad situation for a long time…this just got to the point where he was showing a blatant disregard for the law.”
The Georgia Department of Corrections said the care Covar needs, if he is forced to serve the full seven year sentence, will cost $660,000, which is more than five times the amount of a typical prisoner.
Covar’s sentence follows the February 9 sentence of Deborah Lynn Quinn, an Arizona woman with no arms or legs, to a year in prison for selling a small amount of marijuana.
“One cannot help but wonder if this calloused trend is not in fact a retaliation against the disabled and seriously ill citizens for their successful campaign to obtain the right to use marijuana medically,” said Tom Dean Esq., NORML Litigation Director. “These examples serve to remind us of why it is absolutely imperative that we reform the laws that make such gross miscarriages of justice possible.”
For more information, please contact Tom Dean Esq., NORML Foundation Litigation Director at (202) 483-8751.
