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James Eric Swinton was sentenced to 22 years in prison in 2005 on a minor drug charge under North Carolina's racist habitual offender laws.
He was just re-sentenced to time-served and will be released seven years early with the consent of the DA. https://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2020/08/13/nonviolent-felon-drug-case-re-sentenced-released-prison/3353577001/
He was just re-sentenced to time-served and will be released seven years early with the consent of the DA. https://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2020/08/13/nonviolent-felon-drug-case-re-sentenced-released-prison/3353577001/
Mr. Swinton's case is an example of everything that is wrong with the criminal legal system and of how much discretion prosecutors have - to do right or wrong.
How did Mr. Swinton end up there?
He decided he would take his case to trial.
His co-defendant took a plea and was sentenced to just 13 to 15 months.
There is always a so-called trial penalty. It's not usually 21 years.
He decided he would take his case to trial.
His co-defendant took a plea and was sentenced to just 13 to 15 months.
There is always a so-called trial penalty. It's not usually 21 years.
Then consider there are still systemic disparities in sentencing for drugs like opioids as opposed to crack cocaine. North Carolina law mandates a sentence of 19 years, nine months to 23 years, six months for trafficking more than 28 grams of opioids such as fentanyl.
Yet just 2.7 grams of crack seized from Mr. Swinton in 2005 netted him a longer term than that, as the DA Todd Williams pointed out in his press release.
Mr. Swinton was sentenced under the same kind of habitual offender laws that drew national media coverage in the case of Fair Wayne Bryant who was convicted of attempting to steal hedge clippers in Louisiana. https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/08/05/louisiana-supreme-court-life-sentence/
Mr. Bryant now has a parole hearing.
These laws exist in some form in every state of the US and are a major reason for mass incarceration. https://thelensnola.org/2020/08/12/fair-wayne-bryant-man-sentenced-to-life-in-prison-for-attempting-to-steal-hedge-clippers-in-1997-granted-new-parole-hearing/
These laws exist in some form in every state of the US and are a major reason for mass incarceration. https://thelensnola.org/2020/08/12/fair-wayne-bryant-man-sentenced-to-life-in-prison-for-attempting-to-steal-hedge-clippers-in-1997-granted-new-parole-hearing/
We can't wait for individual prosecutors or judges to do the right thing. We have to get rid of the laws that allow people to be sentenced this way in the first place.
