I am a huge fan of the National Football League, mainly my New York Football Giants. So when the ticker at the bottom of ESPN News showed the name Lawrence Tynes, the team's place kicker, I immediately assumed he got hurt or missed practice or status level for our next game against Washington was in jeopardy. He missed a couple of games this year due to problems with his knee and we have had veteran place kicker John Carney on our roster just in case. But then the remaining part of the headline went as followed:
"GIANTS K LAWRENCE TYNES SEEKS PRESIDENTIAL PARDON FOR BROTHER"
This cause even more of my interest then what his game status was at this time.
This is my first diary, BTW, so go easy on me.
Lawrence Tynes knows a thing or two about getting a second chance, or in some peoples' minds a third chance. Tynes notably made the game-winning field goal in the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field in over-time after missing his last two attempts in the final seven minutes, including one in the final seconds of regulation. It sent the Giants to the Super Bowl and the rest was history. Tynes was in his first season with the team after getting traded for chump change, a 6th/7th round conditional pick from the Kansas City Chiefs who were waiting to dump him after an up-and-down season that ended with him missing chip-shots in a playoff game against the Indianapolis Colts.
During Super Bowl week many public interests stories come out about every player from the star Quarterback to the back-up left guard. In Tynes' case it was his roots from the UK, his father an American US Navy SEAL and his mother a Scottish girl who bore him in the Highlands. But then we found out about his older brother Mark. Mark did not have the pleasure of ever being able to go up to his brother and give him a hug or a handshake for getting his team into the Super Bowl. He could only watch him play the Patriots in the Super Bowl from his jail cell in eastern Arkansas.
Mark Tynes at one point had the dream that Lawrence was living in, playing on the biggest stage in the world but while for Lawrence it was football Mark always dreamed of going back to Scotland and play soccer despite being raised much of his life in Milton, Florida. His dreams and ambitions however came crashing down after he was convicted for his involvement in a sting operation for marijuana in Ocala, Florida. He was sentenced to 27 years in prison for his involvement in a sting operation in Florida that oversaw in a three period 2,200 lbs. of marijuana going from Texas to Florida where him and a bunch of his buddies, buddies that Lawrence hung out with but once he went to college all but cut ties with. When Lawrence came back him when he was 25, already a college graduate with a degree in criminal justice who made the Kansas City Chiefs practice squad after already achieving walk-on status for his college team, saw what become of the brother who was his shadow and vice versa. Scattered around Mark's house were members of the DEA ready to drug bust on Mark Tynes and his buddies aka THE BHOYZ. Mark and four others were arrested in a federal drug raid.
Mark had some odds stack against him compared to the others, for one thing the other members of THE BHOYZ had no criminal records while Mark had two marijuana possession charges on his rap sheet. Also, the others cooperated with authorities and accepted plea deals for shorter sentences while Mark continued to remain defiant, an act that absolutely stupefied his younger brother. Mark was found guilty of conspiracy to possess marijuana with intent to distribute. Mark watched his own friends testify against him as they were involved in the same operation but their cooperation resulted in sentences that ranged from 21 to 60 months in prison. Mark got 27 years for the same crime. Watch this video from ESPN's Outside The Lines where I got most of this information.
It was as if he was punished for not cooperating. How can your reason 27 years to less than two years time? Lawrence Tynes has gotten over calling what was once his close circle of friends snitches for testifying against his brother and he is not all defending his brother's actions. He simply believes the sentence is far too long. This is why he is asking for President George W. Bush to give his brother a commuted sentence. You know the same treatment this very President gave I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby who helped leak a covert CIA agent that threatened the safety of Valerie Plame Wilson, her family, and friends.
Tynes seems to have taken the right steps in trying to work toward helping his brother get his sentence shortened. He filed the appeal two months ago under the guidance of Robert A. Ortiz, a Republican who has the profile of being the finance chair of the Garden State Republicans which indeeds helps his case get through the grape vine of the still, unfortunately, sitting party of the highest office in the land. He also is not, what many of the online or paper media headlines have been calling this action, a pardon:
"My brother is not asking for a pardon, he is asking for a commutation, which would reduce his sentence," Tynes said Wednesday after the Giants finished practice for Sunday's game against the Washington Redskins.
"By no means is he asking to be freed tomorrow," Tynes said. "He deserves to be spending time -- the 27 years is something that we think is a little steep."
Tynes seems being playing it close to the chest, aiming for any kind of cut-down of his brother's jail time, he mentions that federal convicted serve normally 90% of their sentences, still over 24 years of jail for his brother. His brother has run out of appeals and this is his really only shot on getting a shortened sentence.
I am unsure if Mark Tynes is getting such strict sentencing due to the "three-strikes law" or it being the drug law codes, or both, but I am frankly on the side of this being a ridiculous imbalance of justice. Getting caught with a pipe, bag, doobie, or bong adds this much comparatively to doing the same crime your buddies got lesser sentences on? It makes simply no sense. I am for the commuted sentence of Mark Richard Tynes, even if it is only knocking off a few years off his jail term. Yes, he got caught in a major sting that involves TONS of pot but it was pot and nobody got hurt and nobody opened the doors to the DEA in an exaggerated Cuban accent with an AK-47.
Full Disclosure: I am by no means somebody who is a card-carrying member of NORML, or a subscriber for High Times, or is for decriminalizing marijuana or any kind of drug. I am for medical marijuana, I suppose, but am pretty apathetic on the whole drug issue until it comes to reading these absolutely absurd jail sentences people are getting for this compared to murderers, and dog killers (Hi, Michael Vick) out there.
Now, I am going to CAFE PRESS to create a Free Mark Tynes t-shirt while counting down the clock until Thanksgiving since I have no life.