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TODAY: A 63 y/o Black man will be caged the rest of his life for stealing hedge clippers. The Louisiana Supreme Court upheld the sentence. The lone dissent was Chief Justice Bernette Johnson. The only female & Black person on court. The rest are white men. https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/06/us/louisiana-supreme-court-trnd/index.html?utm_medium=social&utm_content=2020-08-06T19%3A20%3A02&utm_source=twCNN&utm_term=link
Once again, brutal "habitual offender laws" are to blame for this costly injustice. His sentencing range skyrocketed because of his prior record. It didn't matter that his last crime was just a failed attempt at stealing hedge clippers. The law doesn't care.
Chief Justice Bernette Johnson made a number of compelling arguments that the sentence was "excessive & disproportionate to the offense the defendant committed." Starting with the sheer cost to taxpayers. For failing to steal hedge clippers: $500,000 for his 23 years so far.
Chief Justice Bernette Johnson in dissent: "If he lives another 20 years, Louisiana taxpayers will have paid almost one million dollars to punish Mr. Bryant for his failed effort to steal a set of hedge clippers."
But the Chief also brought up the racist history of the sentence. The sentence is a "modern manifestation" of "pig laws," created after Reconstruction. The laws "criminalized recently emancipated citizens by introducing extreme sentences for petty theft associated with poverty."
While Louisiana upholds a life sentence for a crime of poverty (attempted petit theft), the state could also soon lose public defense. Louisiana forces people too poor to afford a lawyer to pay for one thru fines/fees. The pandemic has dried those funds up.
Louisiana only funds 41% of the public defender system. The rest is "user pay." The unjust & unsustainable system that forces the very people unable to afford lawyers to pay for public defense from fees of their arrest, conviction, & incarceration. More: http://ForTheSixth.org
Public defenders across Louisiana—a jurisdiction w/ the 2d-highest incarceration rate of any other state or country in world—have stepped up during COVID to fight for release of 1000s, saving lives, keeping families together, & saving $millions, all despite chronic underfunding.
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, public defenders have been critical first responders in courtrooms, jails, and prisons. Defenders are engaging in novel litigation, filing motions for release, challenging conditions of confinement and fighting for basic rights and human dignity.
Thousands more people are in desperate need of advocacy; they remain incarcerated, at risk of contracting COVID-19 and dying.
Challenging cruelty like brutal habitual offender laws in Louisiana starts at ground level. With public defenders. Arguing in court. Advocating outside of court. Fighting everyday against the racist, harsh status quo.
Public defenders in Louisiana, their allies, and the people and communities they serve, have launched building a strategic online people-driven campaign to break through the noise and ensure that saving public defense becomes a priority issue in the state. http://Forthesixth.org
