In 1978, at a Michigan airport, a young man named Tim Allen was arrested with more than0.64 kilograms of cocaine on him. Under that state’s laws, the possible sentence was life imprisonment without parole. There was no room for error.
Allen negotiated with the authorities. He provided information that helped prosecute 20 people and secured the conviction of four major drug distributors. That cooperation changed his fate. The sentence was reduced to a range of three to seven years.
He served two years and four months before getting out. He returned to comedy, rebuilt his career from scratch, and went on to star in Home Improvement and lend his voice to Buzz Lightyear, one of Pixar’s most beloved characters. Few stories show so starkly that the past does not always define the ending.
