- Sep 26, 2011
- 9,133
- 5,072
- 136
Gonna toss this one in here
Life in prison after trying to steal hedge clippers
1979 - Age 21 - Tried to rob a cab driver - Sentenced to 10 years
1987 - Age 28 - Possession Stolen Property - In 1987, Bryant pleaded guilty to possession of stolen things over $500 after allegedly stealing “three televisions, a remote control and a robot” from a Radio Shack. Initially, Bryant had been charged with possession of stolen things greater than $100 and less than $500. But when prosecutors went back and checked the prices of the items at the time Bryant was alleged to have committed the theft — which was around Christmas — they determined that the value had been in fact over $500. Bryant was sentenced to two years in prison.
1989 - Age 31 - Attempted forgery of a $150 check
1992 - Age 33 - Burglary of a house
1997 - age 38 - Accused of illegally entering a storeroom of a carport in Shreveport in 1997. While inside of the space, he was confronted by the homeowner, but somehow was able to flee the scene of the crime. Bryant told the police that it was true that he had gone into the storeroom. His reason for the trespass was to look for a can of gas after his van broke down. He said that the clippers belonged to his wife.
I
Life in prison after trying to steal hedge clippers
1979 - Age 21 - Tried to rob a cab driver - Sentenced to 10 years
1987 - Age 28 - Possession Stolen Property - In 1987, Bryant pleaded guilty to possession of stolen things over $500 after allegedly stealing “three televisions, a remote control and a robot” from a Radio Shack. Initially, Bryant had been charged with possession of stolen things greater than $100 and less than $500. But when prosecutors went back and checked the prices of the items at the time Bryant was alleged to have committed the theft — which was around Christmas — they determined that the value had been in fact over $500. Bryant was sentenced to two years in prison.
1989 - Age 31 - Attempted forgery of a $150 check
1992 - Age 33 - Burglary of a house
1997 - age 38 - Accused of illegally entering a storeroom of a carport in Shreveport in 1997. While inside of the space, he was confronted by the homeowner, but somehow was able to flee the scene of the crime. Bryant told the police that it was true that he had gone into the storeroom. His reason for the trespass was to look for a can of gas after his van broke down. He said that the clippers belonged to his wife.
Louisiana Supreme Court Won't Review Life Sentence For Man Who Stole Hedge Clippers
In a dissent, Chief Justice Bernette Johnson compared Fair Wayne Bryant's sentence to "Pig Laws" in the years after Reconstruction, which enacted harsh penalties for theft and other petty crimes.
www.npr.org
I
n 2000, a panel of three judges on the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeal determined that because Bryant had already been incarcerated for much of his adult life up to that point, sending him to prison for the remainder of his life, until his eventual death, was not an inappropriate punishment for stealing a garden tool.
“Defendant has spent very little of his adult life outside of the criminal justice system,” the judges noted, and then went on to conclude that Bryant’s “litany of convictions and the brevity of the periods during which defendant was not in custody for a new offense is ample support for the sentence imposed in this case.”
Louisiana Supreme Court won’t review life sentence for man convicted of attempting to steal hedge clippers | The Lens
Fair Wayne Bryant was convicted under habitual offender laws. In dissent, Chief Justice calls the statute the “modern manifestation” of laws meant to “re-enslave African Americans”thelensnola.org