Elisha Anderson

Detroit Free Press

Richard Wershe Jr. had a message to convey when he appeared before the chairman of the Michigan Parole Board today: “I’ve been in here a long time, and I feel that I deserve a second chance.”

The 47-year-old man, dubbed White Boy Rick as a teenage drug dealer in Detroit, met with the board's chairman, Michael Eagen, for about an hour via a video connection from the Oaks Correctional Facility in Manistee.

“He asked me what I thought about drugs,” Wershe told the Free Press. “I said, ‘I take full responsibility for selling the drugs that I did … but as a grown man today, I know the damage and harm that they do to society.' ”

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Wershe has spent 29 years in prison for possession with intent to deliver more than 650 grams of cocaine, a crime he committed when he was 17. Officials said he stashed 8 kilos of high-grade powdered cocaine and nearly $30,000 in 1987.

Wershe told the Free Press drugs “destroy communities” and are a “plague on society.”

He said he was nervous about the meeting that could lead to a public hearing, parole and, ultimately, his freedom. “You’re sitting here talking to someone that’s in control of your life,” he said, adding that he thinks he has a fair shot at being paroled.

Ralph Musilli, Wershe's longtime attorney, also attended the meeting and said “it went very well.”

Musilli said the interviewer wanted to know whether Wershe was going to accept responsibility for his involvement in criminal activities or make excuses for what happened and blame others.

“He took full responsibility,” Musilli said. “He was very, very candid about his involvement, how he got involved and what his part was.”

Wershe, a former police informant, was initially sentenced to life in prison without parole but is now serving life with the possibility of parole because of changes in drug laws over the years.

Musilli said Eagen asked how Wershe got involved in drugs, how his arrest occurred and how he looks at what he did.

“Rick told him … ‘When you’re 16 years old, you don’t realize what damage drugs do to the community,’ ” Musilli said, adding that he does now.

The meeting was not open to the media or other members of the public.

“Mr. Eagen will write a summary of his meeting today, including his opinion on whether the board should have a public hearing to consider prisoner Wershe’s parole,” Chris Gautz, a spokesman with the Michigan Department of Corrections, said in an e-mail to the Free Press. “He will make that presentation to the full board at their next executive session in mid-March. If they vote to go forward with the public hearing at that meeting, we anticipate that the public hearing would take place sometime in June.”

Wershe, who was denied parole in 2003 and again in 2007 and 2012, has had one public hearing during his nearly three decades in prison. It took place in 2003.

Some government officials showed up to urge that he be released, while others urged for him to stay locked up.

Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy recently reviewed her office’s position on Wershe's case and said prosecutors will leave the decision up to the parole board.

If Wershe is paroled in Michigan, he still may not be free. That's because he was sentenced to five years in prison in 2006 after being convicted of two felonies, including racketeering, in connection with a stolen-car scheme. It was a topic that came up during the meeting today.

Wershe and others say that starting at age 14, he was used by the government to infiltrate the drug trade. He said he worked for law enforcement for a couple years then sold drugs for 11 months on his own.

Wershe also aided law enforcement while in prison and helped put corrupt police officers behind bars, an FBI agent previously said. Wershe said he thinks his cooperation with the government is the reason he is still behind bars.

Movies and a book are in the works about the controversial case. Wershe said he talked to Matthew McConaughey, who is playing his father in an upcoming film, within the last month about being in prison and about his dad. A documentary is also being made.

Wershe, a father of three and grandfather of six, is also involved in writing a memoir, according to story published Tuesday by the Hollywood Reporter.

He had an interview like the one that took place today about a decade ago, but was denied a public hearing, Musilli said.

Musilli said he’s “cautiously optimistic” moving forward this time. Wershe echoed those words.

“You don’t want to get your hopes up,” Wershe said. “But at the same time, you don’t want to lose hope.”

Contact Elisha Anderson: eanderson@freepress.com, 313-222-5144 or on Twitter @elishaanderson