Joseph Goldsmith, a 34-year-old resident of Austin, Texas, was sentenced to death on June 21, 2014, by Superior Court Judge Martin Churchill for possession of approximately one gram of marijuana.
Judge Churchill stated that this was Goldsmith's third arrest for marijuana possession and that, "If a man cannot get his act together, and he is arrested multiple times for the same crime, then I have no choice but to hand out the swiftest and harshest punishment I can."
Goldsmith is currently in Austin's Texas State Correctional Facility. More info: http://empirenews.net/texas-judge-sentences-man-to-death-for-marijuana-p...
This is a gross abuse of judicial power. Not only should Goldsmith's sentence be overturned, a DOJ investigation should be immediately launched against the judge.