This past Sunday, February 5th, Robert Martinez-Gil — a convicted drug dealer, who had his life sentence commuted — was charged with possession with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine and now faces up to 40 years in prison. (New York Post)

Back in the 90’s, Martinez-Gil was convicted on drug trafficking charges and subsequently given a life sentence for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine and heroin. In 2015, Martinez-Gil had his sentence commuted by former President Barack Obama. (New York Post)

Allow me to give you a brief back story on Martinez-Gil. He is currently 68 years old, and had been in prison since 1990. President Obama commuted his sentence, along with those of other nonviolent federal inmates in 2015.

“I’m signing his release because Robert has demonstrated the potential to turn his life around,” said President Obama. “Now, it is up to him to make the most of this opportunity.” (New York Post)

That is the key word in that statement, ladies and gentlemen: “opportunity.”

“Robert has reformed and rehabilitated himself and poses no threat to the outside world,” said Martinez-Gil’s prison ward, who also advocated for him in 2015. (New York Post)

In a perfect world, everything the prison ward and President Obama said would be true, especially in the case of a 68 year old man who had been in prison for 25 years… But, of course, that’s not the world we live in.

Rather than using his second chance to establish a new life for himself, one far removed from criminal activity, Martinez-Gil made the conscious decision resort back to the lifestyle he knew too well.

Shortly after a meeting of his with a federal probation officer, Martinez-Gill went to a parking lot of a food market to buy more than two pounds of cocaine. When the police caught him, he admitted he was going to sell cocaine to make money and would be paying a female $26,000 for the cocaine. (New York Post)

I don’t know about you, but I can’t stand to see someone waste an opportunity someone else would have made the most of. I am certain there is an inmate somewhere in this country who if granted that same pardon by President Obama, would have utilized that blessing of an opportunity to reform their life for the better. Instead, it was all for nothing, as Martinez- Gil will now end up back in jail for making the same mistake twice.

If insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results, then I don’t know what getting a life sentence, going to jail for 25 years, getting a miraculous pardon, and coming home to start selling bricks again is called. They don’t need to send him back to jail; they need to put Martinez-Gil in a psych ward, put him in a straitjacket, and isolate him from the rest of society because something is clearly wrong with this man.

Allow me to conclude my rant by reminding you all that failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently. Robert Martinez Gil was able begin again in this instance. Rather than choosing to act intelligently the second time around, he embraced his pardon as an opportunity to pick up right where he left off. Rest assured, it will all come full circle for Martinez-Gil, as he will now end up serving that same life sentence.