The Story of Willie Mays Aikens
For anyone that is not familiar with the story of Willie Mays Aikens it is a tragic tale that illustrates the unjust sentencing and racial disparities between crack and powder cocaine in the federal court system. Aikens was a Major League Baseball player who played nearly a decade, mostly with the Kansas City Royals, and was especially prominent in the 1980 World Series. Aikens became famous by becoming the first Major League Baseball player to have two multi-home run games in the same World Series. This fame was short lived, however, when in 1983 he was arrested for cocaine possession and sentenced to prison for three months. Upon his release from prison Aikens played another two years for the Toronto Blue Jays but was never able to return to the form that had gained him fame.
After his baseball career, Aikens’ legal problems continued when in 1993, a Kansas City police officer began purchasing small amounts of crack cocaine from Aikens. After several undercover transactions that amounted to less than $100, Aikens was arrested by police. The entire amount of sales added together equaled a total of 64 grams. With this evidence, the United States Attorney’s office charged Aikens with multiple counts of trafficking crack cocaine.
Because of the harsher sentencing penalties for dealing crack in the federal system, Aikens faced a sentence as if selling the equivalent of 15 pounds of powder cocaine. The sentencing disparity was established after the cocaine-related death of University of Maryland basketball star Len Bias in which Congress felt obliged to pass the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986. It allowed sentences for offenses involving crack cocaine, seen at the time as the more dangerous form of the drug, to be 100 times more severe than for crimes involving powder cocaine.
Aikens rejected all of the government’s plea offers and instead exercised his right to a trial claiming that he had been entrapped. However, a federal jury did not agree and Aikens was convicted on all charges. Aikens was then sentenced to a mandatory minimum sentence of 248 months in prison. Had the drug charges against him involved a similar amount of powder cocaine, Aikens would have been sentenced, at most, to 27 months instead of the maximum 20-plus years he was given. In addition, because a 12-gauge shotgun was found on the premises, Aikens was sentenced to an additional 5 years for possessing a firearm in connection with a narcotics offense.
After being turned down for a presidential pardon and serving over 14 years of his 20 year sentence, Aikens finally got the break he had been waiting for. On March 3, 2008 new crack sentencing guidelines were approved by Congress and made retroactive, affecting Aikens’ sentence. The result was Aikens’ sentence was lowered to 15 years thus making him eligible for release on June 9, 2008.
Despite his baseball fame and prestige, Aikens’ story is not a unique one. His situation has also been experienced by thousands of other men and women who are serving severe sentences for low-level drug offenses. Fortunately, the recent changes to the sentencing guidelines are finally curing the disparity and injustice suffered by Aikens and thousands of others.
If you or a loved one has been accused of alleged drug trafficking, contact Dallas drug trafficking charges defense attorney John Teakell for your 100% free consultation.