Editor’s Note: There are quite a few words and phrases highlight and underlined in GREEN in the following post. For the as yet uninitiated, those are links to other stories that corroborate what I write. Click on those links to read the stories to which I refer.
Every grade school child in America knows the last line of the Pledge of Allegiance:
“…With liberty and justice for all.”
“…and justice for all.” Have you ever sat back and thought what a joke—what a cruel joke—those four words are?
It’s a great line for indoctrinating children, but the reality is this: in the grown-up world, there is little equality in the administering of justice in 21st century America.
The FIFTH AND SIX AMENDMENTS to the U.S. Constitution say, “No person…” Notice it does not say “no U.S. citizen,” but “NO PERSON” shall…be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law” and that in all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall “have the assistance of counsel for his defense.”
You might wish to explain that thousands of prisoners, many of them wrongfully convicted, who were provided “free” legal counsel from inexperienced lawyers or civil attorneys with no background in criminal law—and no budget to retain expert witnesses—but who were nevertheless assigned to defend an accused INDIGENT defendants. The prosecution, meanwhile, can—and does—hire any number of experts in such debunked sciences as bite marks and hair follicles to help convict the defenseless defendant.
On the other hand, if you have the financial resources, you retain blue chip legal representation which conducts thorough research, hires top-notch experts and throws witnesses at the prosecution in an attempt to cast a “shadow of doubt” and win acquittal or at least a hung jury, ploys that are often successful. O.J. Simpson comes immediately to mind.
No, the playing field of justice is anything but level.
Just compare the outcomes of George Santos and Willie Simmons:
Santos, the New York Congressman, was expelled from the House, arrested and convicted of lying, cheating and stealing more than half-a-million dollars. Sentenced last April to seven years in prison, he recently had his sentenced commuted by The Mango Mussolini, aka Donald Trump. Willie Simmons? Well, he stole $9 and is serving life without parole (LWOP) in Alabama.
A Louisiana State Trooper who, while driving drunk, crashed into a Baton Rouge policeman. She subsequently retired but next showed up employed as a Rapides Parish sheriff’s deputy. She was never booked after the crash as any other John Doe would be.
A West Monroe resident was arrested for felony second degree battery following a home invasion and another time for possession of a controlled dangerous substance and simple burglary of an inhabited dwelling. Yet, he also is a DEPUTY SHERIFF in Caldwell Parish.
Meanwhile, A Mississippi appeals court upheld the life sentence of ALBERT RUSSELL after police in Hattiesburg raided his apartment and found (gasp) 1.5 ounces of marijuana in his pants pocket. It seems Russell had a prior history of three nonviolent convictions, enough to trigger Mississippi’s habitual offender statute.
Perhaps those numbers persuaded a New Orleans judge to free FATE WINSLOW from the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola after serving 12 years of a life sentence—for selling $20 worth of pot to undercover agents in Shreveport.
For KEVIN ALLEN, the arrest and conviction were identical to that of Winslow (selling $20 worth of pot to a confidential informant), identical sentence (LWOP) but with a different outcome. After being declared a habitual offender (because of prior minor, non-felony convictions) he was stashed away at Angola and nearly forgotten until the Louisiana Supreme Court stepped in and ruled that his sentence was excessive and reduced it to…35 years.
Contrast the difference: identical charges and sentences but one is freed after 12 years while another has his sentenced “reduced” to 35 years, a sentence he is still serving. Justice for all? Tell me another good one.
Louisiana has the nation’s highest per capita share of people serving LIFE WITHOUT PAROLE. More than 6,300 prisoners, about 15 percent of whom are LWOPers.
That’s because of a number of factors: poor legal representation for INDIGENT DEFENDANTS is, of course, one reason. Another is that under Gov. Jeff Landry goaded the legislature into making it increasingly more difficult to have paroles approved.
Unless you happen to be an undocumented immigrant. In those cases, prisoners are express-laned through the process—so that they may then be DEPORTED EXPEDITIOUSLY. In each of those cases, parole board chairman STEVE PRATOR intoned, “Today you’ve been paroled to go straight into an ICE facility for deportation from the United States.”
The mentality of locking up people for life for NON-VIOLENT OFFENSES is abhorrent and makes a mockery of that pledge we learned so long ago and lest you think I’m referring only to state courts, think again. The DEMOGRAPHIC DISPARITIES are no different in sentences in federal courts. There is no shortage of RESEARCH ARTICLES to transform this theory into fact.
Next, we’ll see how money and access to power can leverage favorable treatment, if not by the courts, then by those with the means and authority to reduce—or erase—their punishment.
Louisiana Voice 
Heartbreaking and disgusting
As George Orwell said, All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others. The examples you cited are appalling but even more shocking is the unequal application of the law.
Good Heavens! I didn’t know that Louisiana had such draconian laws, policies, and procedures on its books and records. I wonder if the granting of pardons was ever envisioned to be conducted as it is at the local, state, federal and Presidential level?
I had no idea it was this bad. I’m angry and heartbroken. Thank you, Tom, for shedding more light on the indefensible treatment of the poor and less connected. LWOP for stealing $9 is reprehensible. While some will say I’m throwing race into the mix, I am. Race is absolutely a factor in many of these cases. I may be opening a can of worms here, but this, for me, is evidence of that systemic racism that many want to deny is real. I’d be interested to know the conviction rate for those represented by a private attorney as opposed to those represented by an indigent defender attorney. I feel sure there is a huge disparity.
As you said, now the legislature, at the behest of our governor, has made it even harder for there to be some semblance of justice. How do we live with ourselves? We, as voting citizens, have a responsibility to speak up for the oppressed, regardless of race. We, as voting citizens, have a responsibility to let our elected officials know that this is unacceptable. Phone calls and emails let us express our opposition to what is happening, but they are ignored. We will have the best opportunity come election time. I jntend to make my vote speak for me. I hope others do as well.
Thank you again for shedding light on “and justice for all.”