Weldon Angelos

Weldon Angelos (b. 1979), Salt Lake City music producer who had worked with Snoop Dogg and Tupac Shakur. In 2002, Angelos was arrested after selling approximately $350 of cannabis on three occasions to a confidential informant. An informant alleged — without physical evidence — that he wore an ankle holster during the sales; no firearm was brandished or used. Federal prosecutors in Utah charged him under 18 U.S.C. § 924(c) "stacking" provisions for possession of a firearm during a drug-trafficking offense. On November 16, 2004, U.S. District Judge Paul G. Cassell, a conservative Bush appointee, was compelled by mandatory-minimum stacking to impose 55 years in federal prison. Cassell called the sentence "unjust, cruel, and even irrational" in his written opinion and publicly urged clemency. Angelos was released May 31, 2016 after approximately 13 years, following a sealed sentence reduction. Advocacy came from Senator Mike Lee, Charles Koch, Alicia Keys, Snoop Dogg, and attorney Mark Osler. President Donald Trump issued Angelos a full pardon on December 22, 2020. Post-release he founded The Weldon Project / Mission [Green], contributed to the First Step Act (2018), and has lobbied successive administrations on rescheduling and pardons. The 2024 House bill "Weldon Angelos Presidential Pardon Expungements Act" (H.R. 10248) is named in his honor. His case is a canonical example of mandatory-minimum stacking applied to nonviolent cannabis sales.