• drugs
• legal rhetoric
• patriot act

According to Austin Sound, Jake Mitchell of the Austin Band Boxing Lesson was sentenced to 5 years in prison for growing Marijuana. But Mitchell was sentenced under the Patriot Act as a "narco-terrorist" which changes EVERYTHING. Here is part of a statement from Boxing Lesson’s publicist, Ryan Cano:

Jake Mitchell, drummer for The Boxing Lesson and most importantly, a dear friend, will be put in Federal jail at the beginning of Sept for some marijuana growing charges. What makes this story unique and
what has enraged every single one of our close friends, is that Jake has been branded by our government as a Terrorist under the Patriot Act. In fact, they have thrown the Narco-Terrorist tag on him. What this does legally for a defendant is mind blowing in terms of the new laws waged against them. If you are branded a terrorist, your wife doesn’t get spousal protections and will go to jail. If you are branded a terrorist, each party involved in the crime gets full responsibility for the scope of the crime. Then there are strict sentencing minimums. And remember we are talking about Marijuana here.

Sounds to me like Jake is willing to admit that he was growing pot but that he is anything but a "terrorist." Apparently the "re-authorization" of the Patriot Act (in which Obama and others attempted to fix problems with the Patriot Act) did not fix all of the problems.

The Boxing Lesson is accepting donations for those who hope to help with Jake's appeal. You can donate via a PayPal account they've set up: freejakemitchell@gmail.com

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