Paroled! After serving 23 years of a life sentence for stealing hedge clippers
19th October 2020 · 0 Comments
By Fritz Esker
Contributing Writer
On October 15, the Louisiana Board of Pardons and Parole granted parole to Fair Wayne Bryant, a man sentenced to life in prison under the habitual offender law for a 1997 conviction for attempting to steal hedge clippers from a residential garage in Caddo Parish.
Robert Lancaster, a professor at LSU Law School who represented Mr. Bryant at the hearing, said the underlying issue for many habitual offenders is drug addiction and this was the case for Bryant.
“We criminalize the issue instead of treating it as a public health issue,” said Lancaster. “It would’ve been much, much cheaper (for Louisiana) to get the man drug treatment (instead of imprisoning him for decades).”
A report from The Associated Press stated that the parole board members, who voted 3-0 in favor of release, noted that Bryant participated in prison drug and anger management programs.
“I had a drug problem,” the 63-year-old Bryant said at the hearing. “But I’ve had 24 years to recognize that problem and to be in constant communication with the Lord to help me with that problem.”
Kelsey Jenkins, a third-year LSU Law student, worked with Bryant and drafted a memo in support of his release that was submitted prior the October 15 hearing.
“Mr. Bryant’s sentence is an example of the flaws in Louisiana’s criminal legal system, but the parole committee’s decision to grant him early release shows the importance of periodic evaluation of an individual’s rehabilitation, which Mr. Bryant will continue with the support of the Louisiana Parole Project,” said Jenkins.
In August, the Louisiana Supreme Court voted 5-1 not to review Bryant’s life sentence after he filled an appeal. Chief Justice Bernette Johnson, the court’s only African-American judge, gave the lone dissenting opinion.
“The sentence imposed is excessive and disproportionate to the offense the defendant committed,” wrote Chief Justice Johnson. “Since his conviction in 1997, Mr. Bryant’s incarceration has cost Louisiana taxpayers approximately $518,667. Arrested at 38, Mr. Bryant has already spent nearly 23 years in prison and is now over 60 years old. If he lived another 20 years, Louisiana taxpayers will have paid almost one million dollars to punish Mr. Bryant for his failed effort to steal a set of hedge clippers.”
Chief Justice Johnson’s written dissent also compared Bryant’s sentence to “Pig Laws,” Reconstruction-era laws southern states used to issue extreme sentences to African Americans for petty theft and poverty-related crimes.
“These measures enabled southern states to continue using forced-labor (as punishment for crime) by African-Americans even after the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment,” wrote Chief Justice Johnson. “Pig Laws were largely designed to re-enslave African-Americans.”
Before the 1997 incident, Bryant had been convicted of four felonies: an attempted armed robbery in 1979, possession of stolen things in 1987, attempted forgery for writing a bad check in 1989, and simple burglary of an inhabited dwelling in 1992.
Bryant’s parole conditions include community service, mandatory attendance at Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, and a 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew. He must also enter a program in Baton Rouge with the Louisiana Parole Project, a nonprofit that aids paroled prisoners in re-entering society.
The ACLU of Louisiana issued a statement regarding Bryant’s parole.
“While nothing can make up for the years Mr. Bryant lost to this extreme and unjust sentence, today’s decision by the parole board is a long-overdue victory for Mr. Bryant, his family, and the cause of equal justice for all,” said Alanah Odoms, ACLU of Louisiana’s executive director. “Now it is imperative that the legislature repeal the habitual offender law that allows for these unfair sentences, and for district attorneys across the state to immediately stop seeking extreme penalties for minor offenses.”
Louisiana’s Habitual Offender Statute states that a person convicted of more than one felony crime faces longer and longer sentences for each subsequent conviction. Sixty-four percent of people serving time in Louisiana prisons under this statute are there for nonviolent crimes. African Americans make up 79 percent of people convicted as habitual offenders in Louisiana.
This article originally published in the October 19, 2020 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
