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A Cleveland filmmaker is working on a full-feature length documentary on the plight of convicted Detroit drug dealer Richard Wershe Jr. who was often referred to as "White Boy Rick."
Shawn Rech, managing partner of Transition Studios, tells Deadline Detroit that he took notice of the story because he has a keen interest in "sentencing disparity in the world and this is the Michael Jordan of sentencing disparity." Wershe is serving a life sentence.
Rech hopes the film, titled "650 Lifer" will be released sometime around the holiday season this year. The film is named after a former Michigan law that mandated a life sentence without parole for anyone convicted of possessing more than 650 grams of cocaine.
"The fact that people who have done the same crime have been released in two years and gone on to have wonderful Hollywood careers like Tim Allen, is mind boggling." He said he first heard about Wershe, 46, from a reporter for Vice.
Wershe was arrested at 17 in the late 1980s and was initially sentenced to life in prison without parole under the 650 gram law, which was later repealed. Wershe was then re-sentenced to life with the possibility of parole, but the Michigan Parole Board has refused to grant him parole. The Wayne County Prosecutor's Office has fought to keep him behind bars.
Besides the documentary, Variety reported last year that there were three Hollywood films in development for Wershe. How many make it to the big screen is another question.
"It's a sexy story in Hollywood terms," says Rech. "It will make a great film. Ours is more journalism or supplemental journalism."
Reich produced a 2014 documentary, "A Murder in the Park," currently on Showtime, that helped release an Illinois man wrongly convicted in 1999 of a double murder.
