PRISON TERM OF 55 YEARS FOR DRUGS IS UPHELD

DENVER - A federal appeals court has upheld a 55-year prison term
imposed on a Utah man with no criminal record who was convicted in
2003 of selling several hundred dollars worth of marijuana on three occasions.

The case of the man, Weldon H. Angelos, a record producer from Salt
Lake City who was 22 at the time of his crime, has become a benchmark
in the debate about sentencing rules and justice. The trial judge in
the case complained in issuing the sentence, which was required by
federal statutes, that he thought it excessive, and 29 former judges
and prosecutors agreed, in a brief filed on Mr. Angelos's behalf.

But a three-judge panel of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, in a
decision issued here late Monday, rejected those arguments. The
sentence properly reflected the will of Congress, the court said, and
was not cruel or unusual punishment. Mr. Angelos was reported by a
witness to have been armed with a pistol during two of the drug sales
- - and requiring stiffer sentences in cases where drugs and violence
are linked, the court said, is legitimate social policy.

"Although the district court concluded that Angelos's sentence was
disproportionate to his crimes, we disagree," the court said. "In our
view, the district court failed to accord proper deference to
Congress's decision to severely punish criminals who repeatedly
possess firearms in connection with drug-trafficking crimes, and
erroneously downplayed the seriousness of Angelos's crimes."

Mr. Angelos's lawyer, Jerome H. Mooney, said the decision would be
appealed, either for reconsideration by the full Court of Appeals
here in Denver or directly to the United States Supreme Court.

Mr. Angelos's sister, Lisa Angelos, said in a telephone interview
from Salt Lake City that she had not yet been able to speak with her
brother, who is serving his sentence at a federal prison in Lompoc, Calif.

"This was all of our hopes," Ms. Angelos said of the appeal.

The appeals panel did conclude that the police, in searching Mr.
Angelos's home, had exceeded the limits of a search warrant as they
looked for the source of a strong marijuana smell. But the evidence
the officers found in following their noses, the court said, had not
materially influenced the outcome.

The court also said that Mr. Angelos's lack of a criminal record
appeared to be more about luck in not getting caught than any
indication of innocence.

"The evidence presented by the government at trial clearly
established that Angelos was a known gang member who had long used
and sold illicit drugs," the court said. "In addition, the
government's evidence established that Angelos possessed and used a
number of firearms, some stolen, to facilitate his drug-dealing activities."

But Mr. Mooney, the defense lawyer, said he thought Mr. Angelos was a
victim of politics and of courts that he called too willing to bend
to political winds.

"How deferential to Congress should they be on these issues?" he
said. "Courts are uncertain and are erring on the side of being more
conservative than I think they ought to be."