After 22 years in prison, Grateful Dead fan Timothy Tyler has been shockingly granted clemency. The man, who was 25 at the time of his arrest and is now 47, was sentenced after continuously (and casually) selling LSD to a friend who had secretly been working with the DEA as an informant. Tyler may have made some mistakes, but getting sent to prison with a life sentence was far too much. Adding to this tragedy is that Tyler’s father was also implicated in his sales–simply by Timothy living at his father’s home and using his address in the packages he was sending and receiving. Tyler’s father was sentenced to 10 years in prison, and died 8 years into his sentence.
This story is extremely sad, but now seems to be heading towards a happy ending. Tyler has been surprisingly been granted clemency by President Barack Obama after over 400,000 people signed a petition on Change.org asking grant him clemency. Now Tim can see his 70-year old mother, and he can see his beloved Grateful Dead (or something similar to it) once more. Kudos to President Obama for changing up the way America approaches clemency for non-violent offenders.
Click here to read more about Tyler’s harrowing tale, and be happy to know that he will soon be out of prison!
In celebration of his pending release, watch a video of Tyler’s favorite Dead song, “Althea”, from last summer’s Fare Thee Well concerts, courtesy of YouTube user LazyLightning55a.
[H/T Wikipedia and HeadCount]