By Shane Goodman shane@dmcityview.com

No longer a king’s life

Amel Lueth is a free man today, but he questions the legal process that brought him down

We pride ourselves in reporting stories that you won’t find in the daily newspaper. And, from time to time, we focus on subjects that deal with crime in our state. In doing so, we open ourselves up to the criticism of “glorifying” or bringing undue attention to people who are clearly guilty of wrongdoing. Amel Lueth fits that description and is the subject of our cover story this week. Reporter Jason Hancock interviewed Lueth and brings back a story that many Iowans will remember from the 1980s.

Lueth was convicted in 1985 of being the head of a multi-state illegal drug organization. He was released on parole in 1996 and finished his probation recently. He lost everything, and some would say, deservedly so. But he has a story — a view different from those who simply read the reports or viewed them on TV.

A small-town Iowa guy, Lueth made some bad decisions and fell into a funnel of illegal activity that he was not able to escape from. And, along the way, he feels his legal rights were compromised.

Lueth’s reign as the kingpin of the largest drug organization in the Midwest certainly does not make him a hero. He served his sentence and is now a free man. Was justice served? Hancock reports that not a single person during Lueth’s trial testified that he had ever used violence or even carried a weapon. But the government painted him as a violent drug lord. Was he an innocent man? No, but even criminals have rights.

Thanks for reading.

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