A military veteran serving a life for selling but $30 worth of marijuana will soon be released from prison, his attorney said
Derek Harris, who was arrested in 2008 in Louisiana for selling a politician .69 grams of marijuana, was recently resentenced to time served. He's already served nine years in prison.

Initially, Harris was convicted and sentenced to fifteen years in prison, consistent with the Louisiana Supreme Court. He was resentenced in 2012 to life in prison under the Habitual Offender Law, which allows judges to impose stricter sentences on someone who's been charged before.

Prosecutors in Vermilion Parish agreed to release Harris from prison after the Louisiana Supreme Court granted him a replacement hearing last month, said his lawyer Cormac Boyle.

The Louisiana Supreme Court agreed with Harris' argument claiming he had "ineffective assistance of counsel at sentencing on post-conviction review." The matter was sent back to the court for an evidentiary writ.

The District Attorney's office agreed that Harris "received ineffective assistance at sentencing and was entitled to a lesser sentence," Boyle said during a statement.

He also noted that Harris had a drug abuse problem that started when he returned from Desert Storm, a US operation during the Gulf War launched in response to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990.

"His prior offenses were nonviolent and associated with his untreated dependency on drugs," Louisiana Supreme Court Justice John Weimer wrote in his opinion.

Weimer noted in his opinion that the judge said that Harris was "not a drug kingpin" and didn't fit what they thought of "as a pusher , thus far as I can tell."

Weimer wrote that those were the most reasons the utmost 30-year sentence wasn't imposed. He also said that the court imposed a life when the multiple offender bill was passed.

CNN has reached bent the DA in Vermilion Parish but has not heard back.

Boyle told CNN on Friday that he's working with the Louisiana Department of Corrections on Harris' release and hoped to possess him out soon. He said the Harris would be moving to be closer to family in Kentucky which he was looking forward to spending time together with his brother, Antoine, and his family.

Another decision by the Louisiana Supreme Court last week was roundly criticized: Justices voted to uphold a man's life for stealing hedge clippers.

Fair Wayne Bryant was convicted in 1997 on one count of attempted simple burglary and sentened to life in prison. His attorney called his sentence of life in prison "unconstitutionally harsh and excessive."

Five white, male justices voted to uphold his conviction, while the lone Black, female justice provided the one dissenting vote.
NEWS Source:CNN button

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