Louisiana Supreme Court upholds Black man's life sentence for stealing hedge clippers...

[babylonsister]

Louisiana Supreme Court upholds Black man's life sentence for stealing hedge clippers more than 20 years ago
By Kay Jones and Leah Asmelash, CNN
Updated 6:15 PM ET, Thu August 6, 2020


(CNN)A Black Louisiana man will spend the rest of his life in prison for stealing hedge clippers, after the Louisiana Supreme Court denied his request to have his sentence overturned last week.

Fair Wayne Bryant, 62, was convicted in 1997 on one count of attempted simple burglary. In his appeal to the Second Circuit Court of Louisiana in 2018, his attorney, Peggy Sullivan, wrote that Bryant "contends that his life sentence is unconstitutionally harsh and excessive."

Last week, though, the state Supreme Court disagreed -- with five justices choosing to uphold the life sentence.

The lone dissenter in the decision was Supreme Court Chief Justice Bernette Johnson, who wrote that "the sentence imposed is excessive and disproportionate to the offense the defendant committed."

Johnson is the only female and Black person on the court. The rest of the justices are White men.

more...

https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/06/us/louisiana-supreme-court-trnd/index.html

[secondwind]

1. HOW CAN THIS BE LEGAL???!!!???

[rickyhall]

11. Louisiana

[TheBlackAdder]

2. And who is profitting from the $45K a year it costs to keep him in prison for a $20 set of clippers?

[Grasswire2]

4. I can tell you exactly who.

Politicians (ever wonder why so many advocate "get tough" policies -- and run on that promise?)
Vendors who sell foods and goods to prisons (institutional providers)
Contractors (prison construction and maintenance -- big corporations again) and lenders for construction projects

and so many more.

The return on investment ROI for these entities is sensational, as taxpayers foot the whole bill.

And the money is diverted directly from schools, housing, civic improvements, local recreation/parks, health clinics, and other public assistance.

Those who profit have the advantage of an endless line of hapless, poor, defenseless folk to feed the greedy maw of the prison industrial complex. Too many of them PoC or disadvantaged in life.

I have been to the trade show of the American Correctional Association. I know who profits from locking people up. Many household names.

$50,000/year to punish someone for a $20 property crime. THAT is itself a crime.

[Polybius]

3. From August 6, 2020

Wonder if his lawyers have tried taking it higher.

[Mosby]

5. He has priors.

This is a perfect example of the inhumanity and injustice of mandatory sentencing and habitual criminal laws.

[dalton99a]

6. We don't have a justice system

only a legalistic system to serve the rich and powerful

[triron]

8. sure seems that way to me too.

[bluewater]

7. K&R

[DenaliDemocrat]

9. This is insanity? Is there more to this story?

Eom

[BeckyDem]

10. Supreme Court Chief Justice Bernette Johnson

Bless you. I am hoping President Biden can write a pardon. What she wrote may help meet that end.

Louisiana would rather spend half a million dollars and more to keep a black man in prison, it upholds the state's case which is paramount to any justice served.

[Xoan]

12. Sick fucks.

[ProfessorGAC]

13. It's A Stupid "Zero Tolerance" Thing

A victim of a three strikes & out law that foolishly applies to everything, not just violent crime.
Stupid law. This should be challenged in federal court, if possible.