An Illinois man who has been serving 16 years of a life sentence for selling 140 grams of crack could finally have a chance at freedom thanks to the new criminal justice reform passed by the Senate on Tuesday.
In 2001, Edward Douglas, 55, was arrested twice for selling crack cocaine to a federal informant in Illinois.
Because Congress passed harsher penalties for drug offenses, Douglas faced a minimum of 10 years in federal prison, according to NBC News.
The laws on the books at the time - the so-called ‘three strikes law’ - allowed prosecutors to seek life in prison for anyone convicted of prior offenses.
Since Douglas had two such convictions on his record - one for possessing marijuana and the other for possessing a small amount of cocaine - selling crack gave prosecutors an opportunity to seek a life sentence.
In February 2003, he was convicted and given the mandatory sentence of life imprisonment.
In 2001, Edward Douglas, 55, was arrested for selling crack cocaine to a federal informant in Illinois. The law mandated that he receive a life sentence. He is seen above with his sister, Veronica Douglas (left), and aunt Addie Dorsey (right)
Douglas was a Chicago Transit Authority maintenance worker and father to two young children at the time of his arrest. He is seen left with his family before he was sent to prison
Douglas, a father of two young children, pleaded not guilty. He insisted he was set up.
He also refused to plead guilty in exchange for a lighter sentence.
Douglas said he still remembers the shock he felt upon hearing he would spend the rest of his life behind bars.
‘I can't believe this could happen,’ he said he thought at the time.
‘Especially for drugs.’
Earlier this year, Douglas' daughter, Shanice, was photographed at the Supreme Court with a sign that read: 'My father sold 140 pellet-sized grams of crack and got a life sentence'
Cases like Douglas’ are the impetus behind widespread bipartisan support for the First Step Act.
The U.S. Senate on Tuesday overwhelmingly passed the legislation long in the making and backed by President Donald Trump to reduce sentences for certain prison inmates.
By a vote of 87-12, the Republican-led Senate passed and sent to the House of Representatives the 'First Step Act,' which would ease the way for some prisoners to win early release to halfway houses or home confinement.
The legislation also aims to establish programs to head off repeat offenders and protect first-time non-violent offenders from harsh mandatory minimum sentences.
Earlier this year, the House passed a bipartisan bill focusing on prison reforms, which did not include sentencing reforms.
With little time left as Congress tries to wrap up its session this month, Senate proponents are hoping their broader version is accepted by the Republican-controlled House.
Trump congratulated the Senate on passing the bill and said he looked forward to signing it into law.
‘This will keep our communities safer, and provide hope and a second chance, to those who earn it. In addition to everything else, billions of dollars will be saved,’ Trump tweeted.
The United States leads the world in prison population, with about 2.2 million people incarcerated at the end of 2016.
During Senate debate of the bill, Democratic Senator Dick Durbin noted the United States had 5 percent of the world’s population, but 25 percent of the world’s prisoners.
He added that minorities bore the brunt of tough minimum sentences that judges have been directed to impose as a result of a decades-old law that has exploded the numbers of incarcerated people.
By a vote of 87-12, the Senate passed the 'First Step Act,' which would ease the way for some prisoners to win early release. From left to right: Senators Dick Durbin; Tim Scott; Chuck Grassley; and Corey Booker discuss bill's passage in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday
'The majority of illegal drug users and dealers in America are white. But three-quarters of the people serving time in prison for drug offenses are African-American or Latino,' Durbin said.
Douglas said he and other inmates at the federal penitentiary in Pekin, Illinois have been following the progression of the bill.
It’s a step in the right direction, he said.
‘We're not saying we shouldn't be given time for the crimes we did,’ Douglas said.
‘But you should look at the person himself and the crime the person did.’
If the judge deems it necessary to put a convict behind bars by giving him a prison sentence, ‘they should give it.’
Earlier this year, Douglas' daughter, Shanice, was photographed at the Supreme Court with a sign that read: 'My father sold 140 pellet-sized grams of crack and got a life sentence.'
She said she last saw her dad when she was 7 years old.
After he went to prison, she, her mother, and grandmother moved to rural Mississippi and raised her there.
'My dad would always say, "I’m coming home",' Shanice Douglas, 24, said.
'From my understanding, he never believed he had life in prison. But he knew the justice system screwed him over.'
Link hienalouca.com
https://hienalouca.com/2018/12/20/illinois-man-who-received-life-in-prison-for-selling-140-grams-of-crack-cocaine-could-win-freedom/
Main photo article An Illinois man who has been serving 16 years of a life sentence for selling 140 grams of crack could finally have a chance at freedom thanks to the new criminal justice reform passed by the Senate on Tuesday.
In 2001, Edward Douglas, 55, was arrested twice for selling crack cocaine to a federal...
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Emily Ratajkowski is a showman, on and off the stage. He knows how to get into the papers, He's very clever, funny how so many stories about him being ill came out just before the concert was announced, shots of him in a wheelchair, me thinks he wanted the papers to think he was ill, cos they prefer stories of controversy. Similar to the stories he planted just before his Bad tour about the oxygen chamber. Worked a treat lol. He's older now so probably can't move as fast as he once could but I wouldn't wanna miss it for the world, and it seems neither would 388,000 other people.
Dianne Reeves US News HienaLouca
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2018/12/20/06/7648970-6514977-image-a-60_1545288454142.jpg
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