Although he was never sentenced to prison, Johnny Cash had more than a few experiences in a jail cell.
Johnny was arrested 7 times in his life, some for things as benign as picking flowers (on private property) and some for violations that were a tad bit worse, though he never filled out a rap sheet quite like Merle Haggard did…
His career will forever be tied to the prison system due to the iconic concerts at San Quentin and Folsom Prison, one of those shows transforming Merle’s life, and his years of advocacy on behalf of prison reform, but the closest he ever came to spending some real time behind bars happened in October of 1965.
Cash was in the midst of his nearly life-long drug addiction and decided to travel down to Mexico to get some discounted pricing on Dexadrine (an upper) and Equanil (a downer) but his guitar case stash was found by customs officers at the El Paso International Airport.
A total of 1,143 pills were confiscated and Cash spent one night in the El Paso County Jail before posting a $1000 bond and being released. He later pled guilty to a misdemeanor narcotics charge, was fined $1,000, and given a 30-day suspended sentence.
It was really a slap on the wrist considering how strict the justice system was on drugs in the 60’s but the judge factored in that he had a prescription for both while making judgement.
Cash went on living his life and that should have been the end of the story but about 20 years later this arrest showed its head once more.
In March of 1985, El Paso County Sherriff sergeant Jesus Gurrola was sentenced to 5 years supervised probation, 500 community service hours, and a $500 fine for threatening to extort money from Cash.
In a letter dated approximately January 29th, 1984, Gurrola said he would make Johnny’s 1965 arrest records public if he didn’t contact him to negotiate a cash payment.
No specific amount of money was demanded and he even included lines about admiring Cash because he always “fought back”, which is an odd way to try and butter him up and open his wallet.
As you’d expect, Johnny made no such payment and Gurrola was eventually fired by Sherriff Mike Davis after the records of Johnny’s 1965 arrest were found to be missing. He pled guilty to the extortion charge, which carried a maximum of two years in prison, though I can’t find any record that he actually served any time.
Maybe it’s time we start calling Johnny the “Man In Blackmail”?
Truthfully, I can’t imagine the thought process that sergeant used to think Johnny would actually pay him. By 1984, it was pretty well known that Johnny used drugs and I can’t see an arrest from 20 years ago making a dent in his career at that point.
They do say you only catch the stupid criminals and this may prove that to be the case.
Either way, it’s just another great story from the wild life of Johnny Cash.
