Louisiana man serving life for $30 drug sale set to be freed
Harris was convicted under Louisiana’s habitual offender law following a sale of less than a gram of marijuana in 2008.
A military veteran serving a life sentence for selling less than $30 worth of marijuana will soon be released from prison, his attorney said. Derek Harris, who was arrested in 2008 in Louisiana for selling an officer .69 grams of marijuana, was recently resentenced to time served. He’s already served nine years in prison.
Initially, Harris was convicted and sentenced to 15 years in prison, according to the Louisiana Supreme Court. He was resentenced in 2012 to life in prison under the Habitual Offender Law, which allows judges to impose stricter sentences on someone who’s been charged before.
Prosecutors in Vermilion Parish agreed to release Harris from prison after the Louisiana Supreme Court granted him a new hearing last month, said his lawyer Cormac Boyle. Continue Reading
