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Supporters Step Up Efforts To Win Clemency For Inmate With Life Sentence For Marijuana

Mike Mizanskey stands next to a poster of his brother, Jeff, who's serving a life-without-parole sentence for marijuana possession.  The image is scheduled next week to be placed on a billboard along U.S. Hwy. 54 just north of the Missouri River Bridge heading into Jefferson City.
Marshall Griffin/St. Louis Public Radio
Mike Mizanskey stands next to a poster of his brother, Jeff, who's serving a life-without-parole sentence for marijuana possession. The image is scheduled next week to be placed on a billboard along U.S. Hwy. 54 just north of the Missouri River Bridge heading into Jefferson City.

Supporters of a Missouri prison inmate serving life without parole for a marijuana conviction are stepping up their efforts to persuade Gov. Jay Nixon to grant clemency.

Mike Mizanskey stands next to a poster of his brother, Jeff, who's serving a life-without-parole sentence for marijuana possession.  The image is scheduled next week to be placed on a billboard along U.S. Hwy. 54 just north of the Missouri River Bridge heading into Jefferson City.
Credit Marshall Griffin/St. Louis Public Radio
Mike Mizanskey stands next to a poster of his brother, Jeff, who's serving a life-without-parole sentence for marijuana possession. The image is scheduled next week to be placed on a billboard along U.S. Hwy. 54 just north of the Missouri River Bridge heading into Jefferson City.

JeffMizanskey, 61, of Sedalia,had two prior nonviolent convictions for possessing and selling marijuana when he was convicted a third time and sentenced in 1996 to life in prison without the possibility of parole. He had been arrested in 1993 in a drug sting involving five pounds of marijuana.His brother, MikeMizanskey, says all of Jeff's appeals have been exhausted.

"We are not asking for a full pardon, just clemency, so we can correct this injustice," Mike said. "Jeff takes responsibility for his actions...I'm here today to tell his story, in hopes that Gov. Jay Nixon will take time to look over his petition for clemency and give my brother his life back."

AaronMalin with the group Show-Me Cannabis says that in his opinion,Mizanskey'ssentence fits the legal definition of cruel and unusual punishment.

"He never brandished a weapon; he never sold to children; he was, by all accounts, somebody with a full-time construction job who sold some marijuana on the side," Malin said.  "That was against the law and he should have been punished for that, but we feel as though the sentence didn't fit the crime committed."

Mizanskey submitted a clemency petition to Nixon in October 2013.  A spokesman for the governor says the clemency request remains under review.

Show-Me Cannabis has also rented a billboard across the Missouri River from the state Capitol in support of Mizanskey's clemency request.  Earlier this year, the state passed a revised criminal code that will no longer allow someone to be sentenced to life without parole for a nonviolent drug offense, Malin also said.

The latest efforts to win clemency for Mizanskey come at a time when many states are loosening their restrictions against marijuana use. Twenty-three states and the District of Columbia allow for medical use of marijuana, including Missouri's neighbor to the east, Illinois.  This year, both Colorado and Washington legalized marijuana for recreational use.

While medical use of marijuana remains illegal in Missouri, Gov. Nixon signed legislation this year allowing the use of hemp extract for medical use, specifically for children with autism.

Follow Marshall Griffin on Twitter:  @MarshallGReport

Copyright 2014 St. Louis Public Radio

St. Louis Public Radio State House Reporter Marshall Griffin is a native of Mississippi and proud alumnus of Ole Miss (welcome to the SEC, Mizzou!). He has been in radio for over 20 years, starting out as a deejay. His big break in news came when the first President Bush ordered the invasion of Panama in 1989. Marshall was working the graveyard shift at a rock station, and began ripping news bulletins off an old AP teletype and reading updates between songs. From there on, his radio career turned toward news reporting and anchoring. In 1999, he became the capital bureau chief for Florida's Radio Networks, and in 2003 he became News Director at WFSU-FM/Florida Public Radio. During his time in Tallahassee he covered seven legislative sessions, Governor Jeb Bush's administration, four hurricanes, the Terri Schiavo saga, and the 2000 presidential recount. Before coming to Missouri, he enjoyed a brief stint in the Blue Ridge Mountains, reporting and anchoring for WWNC-AM in Asheville, North Carolina. Marshall lives in Jefferson City with his wife, Julie, their dogs, Max and Liberty Belle, and their cat, Honey.