Current Florida Governor Rick Scott has turned a blind eye and deaf ear to requests that he reduce the sentence of Misty Croslin or pardon her based on time served.
But on Tuesday, November 6th, Florida voters will elect a new governor.
If Democrat Andrew Gillum is elected, there will be new eyes and ears overseeing Misty’s fate. We hope there will also be a compassionate heart.
Electing Mr. Gillum gives Misty another chance at the redemption she has worked so hard to achieve. Many of you know that Misty was born to alcoholic and drug addicted parents. She and her young brothers had to raise themselves. Amid the neglect and poverty, she was twice raped before the age of 14.
Picked on and ridiculed at school because she couldn’t read, Misty fell under the influence of bad friends and abusive older men. One of those men was Ronald Cummings, who had a long history of drug dealing, violence, and having sex with underage girls.
Enter law enforcement. Frustrated by their inability to solve the disappearance of Haleigh Cummings (Ronald’s daughter from a previous relationship), area police joined forces and set up a sting. If they couldn’t solve the disappearance, they could sure as hell get the media spotlight off their back by sending people to jail.
It was Cummings who was approached by an undercover cop whose mission was to entrap both Ronald and Misty. An experienced drug dealer, Ronald brought Misty along with him as a total of $3,000 worth of oxycodone and hydrocodone were sold to the undercover officer who claimed to suffer from terrible pain.
You know the rest. They were both arrested. Despite a history of drug dealing, violence, and predatory sexual behavior with minors, Ronald Cummings received the lighter prison sentence: 15 years. As a first time, non-violent offender, Misty was eligible to be sentenced to just six years in prison. Instead, because she was the real target of the entrapment, she was sentenced to two 25 year terms in prison, $500,000 in fines, and five years probation.
Misty had just turned 18 years old at the time of her arrest. How many of us made foolish choices or were pressured into doing stupid things at that age?
Should the penalty for being a participant in the sale of $3,000 worth of pain pills be two 25 year terms in state prison? Should the penalty be walking into prison as a first time offender at 18 and not coming out until you’re 43?
It costs Florida taxpayers about $30,000 a year for every year they keep Misty behind bars. Is that money well spent? That’s $7,500,000 to punish someone whose crime was selling $3,000 of drugs.
On what planet does that make any sense?
Misty has overcome so much in her life. The neglected girl who cares for others. The abused girl who responds with kindness. The illiterate child who now reads and writes and works in the prison library. The drug addict who is clean and sober.
She can overcome this unjust prison sentence too if we just give her a second chance.
Free Misty Croslin 