We’ve all made our fair share of mistakes in life, and many people never learn from them. Sometime’s people just need that one person to snap them out of it, simply by calling them out and challenging them to do better. That’s exactly what happened for this former drug dealer turned lawyer, and you’ll never believe who it was that helped him change his ways…
This man put the drugs down, to picked the books up after a judge gives him a break and inspires him to do better
There’s many of reasons you shouldn’t judge people for their mistakes. For one, more often than not your assumptions will be wrong, and for two, you never know when someone will be inspired and change everything they’ve been doing wrong.
43-year-old, Ed Martell, just put himself through law school, but given his rocky past, many people had already counted him out.
“I fell victim to my environment, I guess I could say, and then it became a trend, I started hanging around with the wrong crowd, I got intertwined with the drug culture,” Ed told Fox 2 News Detroit.
At 27-years-old he found himself in front of a judge facing 1-20 years in prison for selling drugs
The charges Ed was facing could carry a very stiff sentence, and the then 27-year-old was sure he was going to prison. Thankfully, the universe had different plans for the high school dropout, and those plans were big…
Lucky for him, he was in front of Judge Bruce Morrow and was about to get the best gift of his life
Judge Morrow saw something in Ed, so he decided he was going to give him a break. But he would also say something that lit a fire of motivation underneath him During sentencing, he told Ed that he wouldn’t be doing any prison time. Instead, he sentenced him to 3-years probation and told him this:
“Mr. Martell, I dare you, be a CEO of a Fortune 500 company, instead of out here selling drugs.”
Ed took those words to heart.
That’s when he set off on his journey of becoming a lawyer, and it wouldn’t be easy. Ed already had a GED, so he enrolled to the local Community College and persevered to get his Associates Degree. He did so well, the ex-drug dealer even got a full-ride scholarship to Law School at the University of Detroit Mercy.
“I knew what I wanted to be, but when you come from a place where I came from, I didn’t grow up knowing any attorneys,” he said.
16-years-later he was being sworn in by Judge Morrow as an attorney
That’s right, the very same Judge who challenged him to change, was the same one who was swearing him in as a lawyer. The honorable Judge is more than just a Judge to Ed, he’s now his mentor.
“He’s like so many of the other people that come in front of us. They are talented, they’re brilliant, they have abilities and skills that, if you were not looking to make people’s lives better and connect with them, you were only going to see the person and the offense that they’re charged with.” Said, Judge Morrow.
This proves that one’s past doesn’t have to dictate their future and that one person can make a massive impact in our lives. Ed now plans to give back to his community, just like the man who practically saved his life.
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