NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A military veteran who was sent to prison for life
after selling less than 1 gram (0.04 ounce) of marijuana to an
undercover investigator should be allowed to pursue an appeal of the
harsh sentence, defense attorneys told the Supreme Court of Louisiana on
Monday.
Attorneys representing Derrick Harris said that during a
habitual offender sentencing hearing his trial lawyer failed to note
mitigating circumstances, including mental health problems and drug
addiction following his service during Operation Desert Storm in the
1990s. Those factors would have allowed the judge to impose less than
the life sentence called for under Louisiana’s habitual offender
statutes, his lawyers at Monday’s hearing said.
“No verbal
objection. No evidence. No motion to reconsider sentence,” attorney
Cormac Boyle said during arguments held during a special hearing for
students and faculty at Tulane University’s law school.
In
addition, an appellate lawyer failed to raise some of the trial lawyer’s
failures in an initial appeal, according to a brief filed for Harris.
Lower
courts held that state law and Supreme Court precedent preclude Harris
from pursuing a subsequent post-conviction appeal of his sentence.
Attorney Dale Lee, arguing for prosecutors in Vermilion Parish, said
there was no reason to depart from that reasoning.
He came under
sharp questioning from Chief Justice Bernette Johnson and from Judge
James Boddie, who was sitting in for an absent Justice Marcus Clark.
Johnson said the court record indicated the sentencing judge at the
habitual offender hearing gave no indication he was aware of factors
that might have called for a more lenient sentence. “He just said, ‘My
hands are tied. Life sentence,’” Johnson said.
Court
records show Harris had previous convictions for drugs, simple robbery,
burglary and theft in the 1990s. According to a brief filed on his
behalf, he sold about $30 worth of marijuana to an undercover officer
who knocked on his door on Oct. 2, 2008. Among other examples of
ineffective counsel cited in the brief was a failure by a defense lawyer
to let Harris know about a possible plea deal that would have resulted
in a 7-year sentence
.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/court-review-marijuana-life-sentence
