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The Case of Timothy Tyler
📻 Episode #79
🎙️ Hosted by Jason Flom
📅 Nov 20, 2018
About This Episode
Tim Tyler was sentenced to a mandatory life sentence in federal prison for selling LSD while traveling around the country following the Grateful Dead. He was 25 years old when he was sentenced and spent nearly half of his life behind bars. In 1991, Tim was arrested twice for selling LSD and received probation both…
The Case
Tim Tyler was sentenced to a mandatory life sentence in federal prison for selling LSD while traveling around the country following the Grateful Dead. He was 25 years old when he was sentenced and spent nearly half of his life behind bars. In 1991, Tim was arrested twice for selling LSD and received probation both times. Then, in May 1992, Tim sold marijuana and LSD to a confidential informant. He was arrested in August and charged along with three codefendants, including his father. Tim pled guilty to possession with intent to deliver LSD and conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute LSD. In March 1994, Tim was sentenced to mandatory life without parole in federal prison. Tim’s codefendants received five- and 10-year sentences. Timothy’s father died in prison while serving his 10-year prison term. Tim’s life sentence was determined by two factors: his two prior drug offenses and the amount of LSD he was convicted of selling, which included the “carrier” weight of the paper the LSD was placed on. Ten grams or more of LSD (including the weight of the carrier) on a third offense triggers a mandatory minimum sentence of life in prison. Without the mandatory minimum, Timothy would have received a sentence of 262-327 months under the federal sentencing guidelines.
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In Their Own Words — transcript excerpts
Short excerpts from the episode's official published transcript, with timestamps — listen from these moments, or read the full transcript via the podcast's own platforms.
00:09:00“Speaker 1: And he died in prison of a heart attack at Speaker 1: the age of fifty three and April seventeen, two thousand Speaker 1: and one. So when I sent all this stuff. Then Speaker 1: I had warrants for sending that. Speaker 2: You know, now it's a federal crime because you sent”
00:33:25“Speaker 1: last couple of years I was in there, they started Speaker 1: letting people get like tofu and our bomzo beans and Speaker 1: stuff like that that are vegan. That are the vegetarians. Speaker 1: But for the most part, for the most of those years, Speaker 1: they serve like soy, just soy, you know, throw some”
00:57:08“Speaker 2: You know, can do Foundations. I want to put in Speaker 2: a plug for them because if you go to their site, Speaker 2: they can give you some instructions as to how to uh, Speaker 2: how to reach out and and you know, make somebody's”
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Also on the podcast: #399 Sean Tyler and Reginald Henderson