By Tommy Nguyen
VENTURA, CA – During his sentencing this week here in Ventura County Superior Court, Christopher Savage presented to the court a letter, and because of it Judge Bruce Young decided to dismiss the prosecution’s sentencing recommendation.
Savage was charged with multiple counts of possession of a controlled substance, and pleaded guilty to felony possession for sale of a controlled substance.
Savage allowed Defense Attorney Joel Steinfeld to stand in because his original counsel was out of town, and provided Steinfeld a handwritten letter to be read in court.
“Wasted dreamer. I feel sometimes my life is wasted. Sometimes it just seems like life in boxes and locked cages, wasting away my dream,” the letter read. “Weeks and months and years fall from the 
counter, and pages wasting life away, and I am losing me in stages.”
The judge then recalled the prosecution wanted five years with the strike imposed, and the court had indicated to strike the strike, but impose five years.
However, Deputy District Attorney Rameen Manoui insisted that it is the prosecution’s position that the strike be imposed considering the accused’s record of offenses.
The prosecution found that even though there were newfound insights into the Savage’s behavior, the sentencing recommendation was reasonable, while the court was far “too generous,” considering the factors of the case.
Judge Young said he reviewed the DDA’s prior objection and decided to strike the strike based on Savage’s age and lack of relationship to the current charges.
The judge rule that, in the “interest of justice,” that the prosecution’s motion regarding sentencing was dismissed.
“You have a heartfelt letter, you’re obviously a good writer and apparently a sharp guy,” Judge Young concluded the hearing.
The judge added, “You were selling, debts or plain and simple fentanyl and people were at stake, and so are you, and you are paying (a) price. You have a lot of years left to address it, and hopefully, you can change gears.”
