Christian Reichert was arrested Aug. 2nd, 2016 in the state of Illinois for a marijuana conspiracy. He has no violent charges and no priors. He was only in Illinois 6 and a half weeks to help his mother move his grandmother to a nursing home, and his oldest nephew at the time was having his 6th surgery at Children’s Hospital in St. Louis. Christian drove 30 hours from California to Missouri to surprise his sister at the hospital and support his then 7 yr old nephew who is now going on 13.

Christian was living and working for a national tree company in California. Jackson County, IL had a very controversial states attorney at the time that lost his election in 2020 to Joe Cervantez. Christian had just turned 24 and now turning 30. He has already spent 5 years in prison for a 1st time offense and no violent charges. The former states attorney Mike Carr asked the judge to give him 40 years and he was given 23 years on one charge and 15 years on the other charge for intent to distribute and it was proven in court he never distributed anything.

The witnesses the state put on the stand did not even know Christian. It’s all in the transcripts which is public record. He was held in the Jackson County jail for 2 and a half years on a 2,500,000 bond. An extremely excessive bond and given an extremely harsh sentence for someone who had no more than traffic tickets on his record. These mandatory sentences are robbing us of our youth. Others charged in the conspiracy that did not know Christian and have lengthy records that have also been to prison received probation or light sentences and are already out.

Christian made no money off of this marijuana conspiracy but as a naive young man did a childhood friend a couple of favors that he is remorseful for. He has been a model inmate. Marijuana is now legal both medically and recreationally. While the state is making millions off the sale of marijuana, I believe in 2nd chances and feel he has served a fair sentence for the small role he played in this marijuana conspiracy.

The state created a flow chart presented at trial that named from top to bottom the men in control of this conspiracy and Christian was not even on the states list. Some of these draconian laws need to change. A young man with no history of crime or violence but has spent 5 years incarcerated I feel is enough. Our family needs him. The most important years of his life are passing him by. His grandmother is sick in a nursing home and he has 3 nephews he adores and they adore him but are growing up without him. He has done everything asked of him by the state such as drug classes, schooling and work and has maintained a good record in prison.

Please sign this petition and help us get this young man released who has so much to offer and has learned a valuable lesson the hard way. He is truly a wonderful person, son, grandson, brother, uncle, friend and hard worker and who still has so much to offer the world and can hopefully get out and get back to work and have a family of his own. He is not blaming anyone for his foolish mistake and has grown immensely. He has matured and educated himself on the laws that most young people are unaware of and hopes to use this experience to help other young people when he gets out so that another young person or family doesn’t have to endure such a nightmare. Thank you for your time and consideration. We greatly appreciate it.