freegeorgemartorano

No Country for Second Chances

2010-11-24T14:20:00.000-08:00

Op-Ed Contributor

No Country for Second Chances

By GEORGE LARDNER Jr. Published: November 23, 2010

LAST February, after long delays, the Justice Department sent President Obama hundreds of recommendations on requested pardons, each one carefully selected for a quick decision under standards for clemency that presidents have followed for decades.
Under these standards, no pardon can be recommended unless a petitioner has been out of prison and law-abiding for at least five years.
Most of the recommendations President Obama received called for a no, but some, according to people who recently left the administration, strongly favored a pardon. Nevertheless, Mr. Obama has yet to judge a single person worthy of his grace.
If by tomorrow he pardons no one but turkeys, President Obama will have the most sluggish record in this area of any American president except George W. Bush. He’ll have outdone George Washington, who granted a pardon after 669 days. And he will also have outlasted Bill Clinton, who took three days longer than Washington to grant his first pardons. If Mr. Obama waits until Christmas Eve, he will make even his immediate predecessor, who waited until Dec. 23, 2002, seem more generous.
Last month, President Obama turned down 605 requests for commutations — from prisoners who wanted their sentences shortened — and 71 for pardons.
It’s difficult to understand why the president has been so unwilling to grant any clemency. As someone who has taught constitutional law, he knows that the founders gave him, and him alone, the power “to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States except in cases of impeachment.” It is likely that he also knows that a disproportionate number of federal prisoners are black, that mandatory sentencing guidelines have left many of them with excessive sentences and that at least a few of them deserve clemency, whether they’ve asked for it or not.
The president has not only the power but also the responsibility to grant clemency when it is warranted. A pardon can help a worthy former prisoner qualify for a job or a license. But mainly it restores the person’s civil rights, including the right to vote.
What could be holding up Mr. Obama? There is no question that the federal pardon process is flawed. It has been handled by a tiny staff in the Justice Department’s office of the pardon attorney, which has worked for years in a climate of official hostility to any grants of clemency. (As Samuel Morison, a lawyer who worked in the pardon attorney’s office, recently wrote, the view inside the Justice Department is that the pardon attorney should mainly “defend the department’s prosecutorial prerogatives.”) Recommendations for a pardon or a commutation require a great deal of investigation; in most cases, the pardon attorney’s easiest course is to advise that the president say no.
Under Bill Clinton and George W. Bush together, the Justice Department received more than 14,000 petitions for commutations, but recommended only 13 to the White House. The current backlog of petitions for both commutations and pardons is tremendous, close to 4,000.
During President Obama’s first year in office, Gregory Craig, who was then White House counsel, recognized that the system wasn’t working. He talked with Justice Department officials about establishing a bipartisan commission or some quasi-independent office that would take over the pardon recommendations from the Justice Department. Mr. Craig’s ideas met with little enthusiasm.
The White House has tried to explain the current foot-dragging by saying that the president has asked for an updated set of standards for granting clemency. While improvements could be made, the truth is that the standards are time-tested — and fine, at least, for handling most petitions. President Obama needs only to do his job.

George Lardner Jr., an associate at the Center for the Study of the Presidency, is working on a history of the presidential pardon power.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/24/opinion/24lardner.html?_r=1

George Martorano has recently updated his exclusive blog

2010-11-11T11:45:00.000-08:00

George Martorano has recently updated his exclusive blog at PelicanBayPokerClub.com this time giving all readers an insight of how poker spreads hope behind the bars.
In his Latest Blog sent to us from FCI Coleman prison in Florida, which is updated today Wednesday on October 27, George blogs about an old memory being moved into a new prison and the first thing he met in his new cell was the "Cincinati Kid".
George is the longest serving prisoner in USA for a first-time, nonviolent offense. George is serving life without parole.
George was convicted of a drug related crime in the early 1980s and as a first-time offender he might have expected a 5 to 10 year sentence with 20 years being the maximum federal guideline at the time. Instead George was sentenced to life-without-parole. He has been locked up for 27 years and is currently serving at the federal prison FCI Coleman in Florida. In that time George has been a model prisoner, he has written several books and teaches creative writing to his fellow inmates.
Mr. George Martorano has chosen PelicanBayPokerClub.com to be the place for his exclusive blog and we are more than delighted to be able to publish his blog and support him in his plight.
http://www.pelicanbaypokerclub.com/news/2010-10-27/george-martorano-updates-his-exclusive-blog.html

Free George Martorano Justice Campaign

2010-11-10T08:49:00.000-08:00

Posted a http://freegeorge.us/ On this Washington Watch dog site.... Scarry stuff if true....

http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/128455-google-clout-with-obama-administration-deserves-an-investigation-watchdog-says?page=4#comments

free george martorano

2010-11-03T11:28:00.000-07:00

Only a life lived for
others is a life worth
while. -Albert Einstein
Bono I pray to God you will
help this man.
http://freegeorge.us/ I
inspire you with Kavod.
Shama Yah!

I post this all over the internet when I leave comments say like http://nytimes.com/ tmz.com etc. Just left one for Bono on http://u2.com/ : One word in the right ear is all it will take. By God's Good Grace I believe George will be free soon....

Mark Anthony Given or Givens

2008-01-24T10:53:00.000-08:00

My buddy lost contact with me because of my transitory lifestyle so until further notice George Martorano Reg. No. does not officially support this blog I don't think he minds any attempt to see him released, so be it.

Free George Martorano

2007-07-13T10:54:00.001-07:00

To the End, I see the path I have been ordained to walk, and upon the grave which closes in that path, I can read no coward's epitaph!." Thomas Francis Meagher

Second Life George Martorano

2007-07-12T15:23:00.000-07:00

SECOND LIFE
Finally a balanced fair and objective news article on We Believe Group's holy effort to free a good man: http://tampa.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=268555

John Muir had it figured out

2007-07-12T07:49:00.000-07:00

"This grand show is eternal. It is always sunrise somewhere; the dew is never all dried at once; a shower is forever falling; vapor ever rising. Eternal sunrise, eternal sunset, eternal dawn and gloaming, on seas and continents and islands, each in its turn, as the round earth rolls."
"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." John Muir

Georgy's Dumpster Attorney Simone Dies

2007-07-12T07:46:00.000-07:00

This Dumpster attorney should have died in custody
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/breaking/news_breaking/8433227.html

White Mans Justice

2007-06-29T08:09:00.000-07:00

Is this Justice?
Former Alabama Governor Siegleman rips off millions of dollars, betrays the public, whores out the Wonderful State of Alabama Historic top office; narrowly escapes prison in two previous cases, dropped millions of dollars on fancy lawyers fees; and then only receives 7 years in prison after begging the judge for "mercy"!! Meanwhile, back at the prison ranch my buddy George Martorano sits in federal prison for the rest of his life for trying to buy a truck load of pot from the government and betraying himself, and what he could have been.
When the white man took over the West from the Indians they came with a Bible in one hand and a gun in the other declaring they sought JUSTICE. But what the really meant was "JUST US"

The Land of Milk and Honey is now the Land of Money"--Bob Dylan

Free George Martorano Mass Email Campagn To Begin Soon

2007-06-25T09:10:00.000-07:00

Getting Georgy set up for a mass /bulk email campaign

http://freegeorgemartorano@yahoo.com
http://helpfreegeorge@yahoo.com
http://freegeorgeus@yahoo.com
http://helpfreegeorgemartorano@yahoo.com
http://markamania2002@gmail.com
http://markamania2002@yahoo.com

Bush Pardons 14 people

2007-06-12T12:14:00.000-07:00

But not Georgy...yet

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/09/28/politics/main889049.shtml

George Martorano

2007-06-11T08:26:00.001-07:00

Freegeorgemartorano.blogspot.com

2007-06-11T08:24:00.000-07:00

George is right on the edge of release. His Application for Presidential Pardon is literally sitting on President’s Bush’s desk.
“We Believe Group's letter-writing campaign to the Justice Department has had some success. The department's Office of the Pardon Attorney decided to review George's case in December 2003. When asked whether the sentence should be reduced, Justice Department spokesman John Novosky told City Paper that the pardon attorney reviewed the application for George and sent it to the White House with a recommendation. A Justice Department source says, "It doesn't get to President Bush without a recommendation from the pardon attorney that the sentence should be reduced. The pardon attorney thinks Martorano's sentence should be reduced. Now, it's up to President Bush to sign off on it." See In the Name of His Father, By Brenda MacGarvey, CityPaper.net, March 3-9, 2005.

Please sign Petition

2007-06-06T14:11:00.000-07:00

FREE GEORGE MARTORANO
Mr. President, please give this man a second chance- he was convicted of drug trafficking 23+ years ago- he plead guilty to his crime- he was given a LIFE NO PAROLE sentence- he has served over two decades in federal prison- he is a self-taught writer and has a published book "Pain Grows A Platinum Rose"- he teaches other inmate how to read and write- he has helped the BOP with various programs pertaining to suicide prevention and the handling of inmates with mental illness-he has ZERO incident reports in his prison file- he is ready to come home- please commute this mans sentence to "time served"
Click here for more information
To the Top/Sign Petition
Email this petition to your friends

Federal Inmate George Martorano-23+years of a life no parole sentence needs your support to get a second chance-he is the LONGEST serving non- violent 1st time offender in the federal prison system to date
Enter your name:
Or log in.

Display in public list as "Anonymous"

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/330451772

George Martorano

2007-06-01T12:11:00.000-07:00

One of the The 10 Longest Prison Sentences Being Served in the USA for Cannabis

2007-06-01T12:02:00.000-07:00

George Martorano

#12973-004 – Federal Bureau of Prisons, Coleman Penitentiary, central Florida. Life without parole. Entered prison in 1984. No release date.

George Martorano entered the federal prison system in 1984 when he was 34 years old. He’s 56 now. Tall, good looking, rugged, he has not let the years, the cells, or the injustice break him. If anything, they’ve made him stronger. Martorano was born to Raymond (Long John) Martorano, a Philadelphia mobster, in 1950. His godfather was the Philly mobboss Angelo Bruno.
George Martorano and wife But rather than growing up Mafia, both his dad and Bruno insisted that Martorano would never be dirty. Unfortunately, Martorano found that being clean in business didn’t really pay the bills and when a chance to run shipments of marijuana from Florida up to Philly came his way, Martorano took it. “I ran pot for three years” he told City Paper, the Philadelphia alternative weekly, in March 2005.
In 1980, when Martorano was beginning to run truckloads of pot, Bruno died, leading to a mob war that stretched from Philly to South Jersey. It was bloody. Within two years more than a dozen mobsters had been killed, and the feds thought that George’s father was in the thick of it. But he was untouchable at that time, so they turned their attention to the son, and in 1982 he was arrested in a Holiday Inn in North Miami and charged with running an international narcotics smuggling ring that moved marijuana, cocaine and manufactured meth and heroin.
His attorney advised him to plead guilty to the marijuana charge – there were 2,000 pounds of evidence – with the idea that he’d get 40 months, the length of time a parole board recommended he serve. Unexpectedly, the judge sentenced him to life and had him shipped off to the super maximum pen at Marion, Illinois, where he served two years in solitary before being moved to general population in a New York facility. During that time there were hints that if he gave up what he knew about the Philly mob things might change for him but he claimed – and still claims (according to people he’s been in touch with) – that he had nothing to share, as he was never part of the mob. During the past 22 years, Martorano has become an accomplished writer, penning more than 20 books. He teaches yoga, counsels suicidal inmates and is an officer of the Coleman chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Last year the parole board passed his conviction to President Bush for review with a recommendation for clemency, but there has been no response as of yet.
www.Famm.org
www.November.com
www.Hr95.org
www.Candoclemency.com

Free George Martorano

2007-06-01T11:52:00.001-07:00

21) Regarding George
by WeBelieveGroup

Message: 1
Date: Fri, 27 May 2005 19:27:12 -0400
From: "Kay Lee"
Subject: REGARDING GEORGE

REGARDING:

George Martorano
BOP # 12973 - 004
Coleman Federal
United States Penitentiary
P.O. Box 1033
Coleman, FL 33521

TO President Bush and his staff: president@whitehouse.gov

I am writing to encourage you to enact the commutation of George Martorano's sentence. He was the first person, in the history of the United
States, to receive a lifelong sentence for a non-violent 1st time offence. As you can see from his website at http://www.webelievegroup.com,
under current guidelines, George has exceeded his due prison time.

George stated in a letter to his friends, "While I try and make a difference within these walls, year after year, I pray that God gives me the
chance for greater things free, for the troubled youth of our land could surely use me". Please give him that chance.

I think you will receive many letters on behalf of George Martorano. Much of the public is turning against excessive sentences as ineffective.
Please commute Mr. Martorano's excessive sentence and allow him to rejoin his family.

Kay Lee
kaylee1@charter.net
2683 Rockcliff Road S.E.
Atlanta, GA 30316-4013
404-212-0690

Oh God, please send someone to make it stop

2007-05-29T09:56:00.000-07:00

THE APPEAL
No one can know of my Life, for I am the one God chose to be be the loneliest.
In this loneliness, I melt. A melting that drips from my heart, drop by drop.
Thus, these drops "all" end up in my cup of sorrow... which I am forced to drink, again and again.
Then, "all" the pain starts over, drop by drop
Oh God, please send someone to make it stop.... Even if, it's drop by drop.
THE RUST OF LIFE
The Steel Door eases open, then shut...Though it hardly makes a sound. It has the vibration of some tomb's entrance.
Then, you are alone, just you and the four walls. There is no softness in either direction,only cold gray stone.
Ah, now the loud silence. Yes, even in quiet, there is the tune for the living dead.
When one and his conscience sit across from each other and speak, the findings of that conversation are thus...
" Do you know when you are truly here to stay? "
" When a man must shallow the hardest and nod farewell to the free world. It is when you know, you shall venture afar no more. For the more of it was whipped away from you so very long ago. "
" When your soul, skin and sin all align with your lost heart. A heart that foresakes even the beat, for it beats on, remaining you here. "
" Yes, you fade ever so slowly. Tears come fewer and fewer as the years still grow upon you. "
" Then, like now, on this dark day..... mind and body bow, lifting your eyes, they slowly travel from feet to head...
and see, yes you will see...
"this rust of life."
I Subscribe Myself,
George Martorano, Federal Inmate 12973-004

Calling All Creative Writing Students and Teachers

2007-05-25T13:37:00.000-07:00

APPOLGIZE FOR MASS EMAIL
BUT THIS IS GURILLA JOURNALISM AND I GOTTA DO WHAT I GOTTA DO FOR MY PAL

May 25, 2007

After contemplating my mission statement on my http://freegeorgemartorano.blogspot.com I have come to the understanding that I can’t possibly do this by myself….unless I get 30 of the baddest, boldest, bunch of creative writing students behind me like Alan Dershowitz in Reversal of Fortune Reversal of Fortune (1990), did in getting a whole class of kids from the best creative writing class in America or anywhere in the world that would recognize at a glance a beautiful writer, See Mary Dees, Love in A Borrowed Dress, By George Martorano BIGnews - Fall 2005 - Mary Dee, and want to help by discussing his work, his federal case or help make a difference by getting him out of federal prison by posting flyers, posting his blog in formus, data entry keying to get all of his published works online.
George is right on the edge of release. His Application for Presidential Pardon is literally sitting on President’s Bush’s desk.
“We Believe Group's letter-writing campaign to the Justice Department has had some success. The department's Office of the Pardon Attorney decided to review George's case in December 2003. When asked whether the sentence should be reduced, Justice Department spokesman John Novosky told City Paper that the pardon attorney reviewed the application for George and sent it to the White House with a recommendation. A Justice Department source says, "It doesn't get to President Bush without a recommendation from the pardon attorney that the sentence should be reduced. The pardon attorney thinks Martorano's sentence should be reduced. Now, it's up to President Bush to sign off on it." See In the Name of His Father, By Brenda MacGarvey, CityPaper.net, March 3-9, 2005.

In the Name of His Father
George Martorano is serving one of the longest federal sentences for a nonviolent offense in America. Is it because he wouldn't drop the dime on his late ...
www.citypaper.net/articles/2005-03-03/cover.shtml - 62k

with just the right groundswell that you or your class can help by just printing out a copy of http://freegeorgeus and posting a copy of the first page.
I AGAIN APOLOGIZE FOR THE MASS EMAIL but this is guerilla journalism and I gotta do what I gotta do for my pal.

Anyone wanting to help please contact mark at
freegeorgemartorano@yahoo.com

God travels ingognito

2007-05-23T14:35:00.000-07:00

I can remember seeing georgy walk across the compound at Marianna usually staring at the ground with a slight smile on his face as if he was walking the beach in Ft. Lauderdale or hiking in the mountains in the North West. Like a Jewish Saint or tzaddik, he looked as if he was completely detached from the pleasures of this world. Or like the Buddist bodhisattva, he appeared as an enlightened being who had assumed human form only to remind the rest of us how far we have yet to go....
I know Georgy ain't no Saint, but I do think the years of searching his heart as Christ instructed us has brought him to a special place.. past R&D to the front gate

No Donations Just Ideas on How to get George Released

2007-05-23T11:11:00.000-07:00

This blog will never ask nor accept donations only ideas on how to get George released....

Men who can't live in society are either beast's or God's. Socrates

Freegeorge.us

2007-05-11T08:47:00.000-07:00