Florida v. Richard Paey
N/AOUTCOME: Full and complete pardon
Mr. Flannery argued the Florida State appeal of Richard Paey, a chronic pain patient, unjustly sentenced to 25 years for receiving pain medication. Mr. Paey's case was featured on Sixty Minutes. Mr. ... Paey was prosecuted, in essence, for having pain and taking prescribed medication for his pain. In September 2007, after the Court of Appeals denied the appeal (one member of the 3-judge panel dissenting), Mr. Flannery argued to the Florida Governor and the cabinet, seeking Richard Paey's release from prison by way of a pardon, and Governor Crist granted a full pardon. The cabinet was unanimous in the agreement. (Mr. Flannery wrote a book, "Pain in America - and how our Government makes it worse!," while the petition for a pardon was pending, principally because of the harsh treatment Mr. Paey received. In prison, Mr. Paey was administered more pain medication than the case below that treated the medicine he was prescribed, of such a quantity, that it was equivalent to possessing for distributiong - which it never was - and for which there was no proof at all.