I am a lawyer. I work on post-conviction. That means going back and trying to find DNA on old cases, reworking horrible miscarriages of justice from bad eyewitness ID, that sort of stuff.
It also means trying to get judges to take another look at cases where the defendant got a terribly excessive sentence for a relatively minor crime. Like 25 to life for having a tiny amount of rock cocaine. Or stealing a couple of pair of boxer shorts while you're drunk-- and not even making it out of the mall with them. For instance.
But yesterday we got word of another client who got the death penalty. For a petty theft.
Am I exaggerating ? No.
Follow me over the squiggle.
I'm not going to tell his name, or what prison he was in. I don't know if his family knows about this yet. I don't even know if he had a family.
What I do know is that we got a letter today from his cellie-- actually, it was written by another guy because his cellie is illiterate.
Anyhow, what happened is that our client was having trouble breathing.
He begged for help for four days ! But the guards ignored him.
His cellie and other friends told the medical staff that he was having trouble breathing.
They did nothing.
For FOUR DAYS !
He died naked on the floor of his cell.
Well, you say, perhaps he was such a horrible criminal he deserved to die.
What was his crime ? Petty theft with a couple of prior "serious offenses."
He was sentenced nearly 14 years ago to 25 to life under the "Three Strikes Law."
Now he's dead.
Go ahead, explain that.
The death penalty for petty theft.
And it's not the first time, nor will it be the last. We don't have enough lawyers to work on the huge pile of cases that need reconsideration before more of these people die under similar circumstances.
Too many prosecutors and judges think they look "weak" if they allow these sentences to be modified. But it costs us something like $57,000 a year to keep these guys in prison. Plus medical costs as they get older.
Unless they die, like this man did. On the floor, begging for help.
[Update:Thanks, on behalf of our deceased client and those who tried to help him in his last hours, for the rec listing-- first time in a long time.]