During his two decades behind bars, Jeff Mizanskey has seen murderers, rapists and robbers come and go. Now, it’s his turn to leave state custody.

Mizanskey, sentenced in the 1990s to life without parole for nonviolent marijuana crimes, was informed Monday by the Missouri Board of Probation and Parole he’s being set free.

Mizanskey’s original sentence, a result of Missouri’s three-strikes law, was commuted in May by Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon to life with the possibility of parole.

“Oh man, it’s amazing, I’ll tell you what,” says his son Chris Mizanskey, who rallied nationwide support for his father this year with an online petition.



“I didn’t expect it to come so fast,” he says, adding he spoke with his father for about five minutes on Monday. “I don’t know if it will sink in until he’s out.”

The board heard Mizanskey’s case Thursday and was expected to consider it for up to several weeks. The ruling was not a foregone conclusion, despite support for his release from two-thirds of the state legislature and nearly 400,000 online petition-signers.

Mizanskey’s attorney, Dan Viets, said in a statement published by Show-Me Cannabis, the advocacy group that helped publicize the case, that his client likely will be released within 10 to 25 days, possibly earlier.

State lawmakers have repealed the law that allows life sentences for nonviolent drug offenders, effective in 2017 and part of a nationwide rollback of tough anti-drug laws. The Obama administration and bipartisan reformers also are attempting to lower federal sentences for nonviolent offenders.



The first two of Mizanskey’s three strikes resulted in relative slaps on the wrist. He admitted selling an ounce of pot in 1984 and to having more in his home, and acknowledged possessing 2-3 ounces at home after a 1991 search.

In 1993, he was arrested after accompanying a pot dealer to a hotel room where the other man bought less than 10 pounds of marijuana in a sting operation. Mizanskey then received life in prison without parole.

Parole doesn’t mean absolute freedom for the 62-year-old Mizanskey, whom his son says has received a flood of speaking requests from pro-legalization groups and hopes to open a wood shop and mentor at-risk youth.

Earlier this year, Mizanskey told KMOX he’d like to again smoke marijuana, which since he was sentenced became legal in about half of states for medical use and in four states and the nation’s capital for recreational use.



“As far as smoking a joint, I’d love to,” he said. “I ain’t going to lie to you. But I know I can’t, so I won’t.”

His son expects authorities to keep an eye on Mizanskey to ensure he doesn’t. “Let them watch – that way everyone will know they made the right decision,” he says.

"He doesn't plan to take any chances; he has too much at stake," Viets says, noting he personally was nervous after the parole hearing, where he says some board members didn't seem very sympathetic.

In a few years, Viets says, he hopes to get Mizanskey off parole so he won't have the threat of more prison time hanging over his head.



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"He's not going to smoke pot, but he sure is going to go to bat for legalizing it," he adds. "He will have no shortage of speaking engagements – he will be very accessible."