Counting on Freeway Rick

First, a disclaimer:  There are obviously a number of hot-button issues relating to the story of former crack cocaine distributor Ricky "Freeway Rick" Ross.  This blog is not about such issues.  I'm not going to touch on them here and (not that I expect this to be an issue) I'll summarily delete comments if necessary.  Hey, it's my blog.  If you're wondering "What hot-button issues?", feel free to chase the Wikipedia link above.

With that out of the way ...

In a post on counting (see section 3), I talked about the problem of counting how many crimes a person had committed.  This might seem like a fairly academic question, but the case of Ricky Ross illustrates how it can be anything but.  Ross was originally sentenced to life without parole for buying 100 kilos of cocaine from an informant.  Since Ross had previously been convicted of two drug-related felonies, this put him afoul of California's "three strikes" law, triggering its mandatory sentencing.

Except ...

That sentencing was later overturned on the basis that Ross's previous two convictions -- in different states -- should have been counted as a single conviction as they related to a single conspiracy (or "continuous criminal spree").  That meant that the conviction for selling to the informant was only Ross's second strike, and the sentence was accordingly reduced to 20 years.  Ross was released in 2009, with time off for good behavior.

But there's more.

After his release, Ross became embroiled in a lawsuit against William "Rick Ross" Roberts, a prison guard turned gangsta rapper who had sold millions of records under the name "Rick Ross".  Freeway Rick lost the suit, but one of the legal issues that came up was whether each  of Roberts' "Rick Ross" albums should count as a separate claim, or whether the "single publication" rule applied.

Whatever else one might think about Rick Ross's legal history, it's clear from it that what might seem like a simple matter of counting can be tricky and serious business.