Lee Brooker - Life for Pot
LEE CARROLL BROOKER # 00296774
I believe Mr. Brooker is out on HOUSTON MEDICAL FURLOUGH.
LEE CARROLL BROOKER
REGISTER NUMBER: 00296774
DOB: 1939
RACE: WHITE
SEX: MALE
LOCATED AT: HOLMAN CORRECTIONAL FACILITY
RELEASE DATE: 999 YEARS 99 MONTHS 99 DAYS
OFFENSE: TRAF CANNABIS 2.2 - 100 LBS
SENTENCED DATE: 10/3/2014
Inmate search - Click here
A 75-Year-Old Disabled Man Was Sentenced to Life in Prison for Growing Weed for Personal Use
SUPREME COURT AGREES TO RECONSIDER LIFE SENTENCE FOR POT GROWER
The New York Times editorial board weighed in Thursday on what they called the “outrageous” sentenced handed down to Lee Carroll Brooker, a 75-year-old disabled veteran in Alabama who is serving a life sentence for growing marijuana. The NYT called on the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Brooker’s sentence, saying it’s the embodiment of cruel and unusual punishment.
Darren was eventually sentenced to five years’ probation, with a suspended five-year prison sentence that will be dismissed if he doesn’t violate any of his terms. But his father had four previous felony convictions from decades ago, including armed robbery, for which he served time. Alabama law mandates that anyone with prior felonies get an automatic life sentence for possessing more than about two pounds of weed.
Brooker’s sentence, Moore wrote, in a special 2015 memo, is “excessive and unjustified,” and showed a need for a change in the state’s drug laws: “A trial court should have the discretion to impose a less severe sentence than life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.”
Brooker is appealing his sentence, on the grounds that it violates his Eighth Amendment rights to be free of cruel and unusual punishment. On Friday, the Supreme Court is expected to decide whether to hear Brooker’s case. The Times weighed in unambiguously, calling on the court to overturn the sentence, adding that mandatory life sentences—especially for nonviolent crimes—don’t seem like the best idea:
Life without parole, second only to the death penalty in severity, should never be a mandatory sentence for any crime, much less for simple possession of marijuana, which is not even a crime in many parts of the country. If this punishment is ever meted out, it should be by a judge who has carefully weighed the individual circumstances of a case.
Be the first to comment
Sign in with