Aiming at the CB?
Petie:
I don’t think we have met. But here is my story:
I play bad one pocket and bet high at Hard Times in Bellflower.
I got hooked on pool in college, we played straight pool back then, and I traveled to all the U.S. Open Qualifiers until I finally won one and played in the US Open.
But about the same time, I discovered 9 ball and action. I forgot all about straight pool, and traveled around the country, playing and sweating action matches and tournaments.
I practically lived at the Rack n’ Cue in Detroit in the 70’s, day and night, watching all the great players play nine ball, one pocket and snooker. There was a lot of action there for good and mediocre and bad players, I played every day, often for $100 a game, and sometimes $5000 to $20,000 a set.
Detroit had a ton of bar table action during that time. I had a regular game with a guy who would lose quite a bit of money to me. One day when I got to his bar, he said he could not play because he had to pay his lawyer. I asked how much, and he said $40,000. That is when it occurred to me that maybe I should be a criminal lawyer. So I eventually ended up going to law school, and practicing in Detroit.
My most famous case was Michigan v. Harmelin. Ronnie Harmelin was the deskman at the Rack ‘n Cue, he liked to use a little coke and speed to stay awake. He got arrested with a kilo of coke in the trunk of his car that he was carrying for someone else. At the time, that crime carried life in prison with no parole in Michigan. The only way out was to rat on the guy whose dope it was, but he would not. So he got convicted. I appealed his case, he had no prior record, not even a parking ticket, and had been in the Honor Guard at JFK’s funeral. I argued that his sentence was cruel and unusual punishment under the 8th amendment, since he was a first time offender and just carrying the dope for another guy. I argued the case in the US Supreme Court, and lost 5-4. But in the opinion, Justice Scalia said, it may be cruel but it’s not unusual. Since the Michigan constitution forbids cruel OR unusual punishment, that was a technicality I could use. We went back to Michigan court and I ended up getting Ronnie out after 12 years. Sadly, he died of a heart attack that year, but he was really happy to be back on the outside, breathing fresh air for a while. He died happy and free.
I moved to LA for the weather, and I am a lawyer out here now. Most of the action out here is one pocket, and I love to play it and watch it.
That’s my story.