65-year-old theif released from prison

[Mk]

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050529/ap_on_fe_st/television_thief
After 35 years in prison for stealing a black-and-white television set, Junior Allen is a free man.

"I'm glad to be out," Allen told supporters outside Orange County Correctional Center. "I've done too much time for what I did. I won't be truly happy until I see a sign that says I'm outside of North Carolina."

Allen was a 30-year-old migrant farm worker from Georgia with a criminal history that included burglaries and a violent assault when he sneaked into an unlocked house and stole a 19-inch TV. Some state records say Allen roughed up the 87-year-old woman who lived there, but he was not convicted of assault. Instead, he was sentenced in 1970 to life in prison for second-degree burglary.

He did so well he was released several months early — on his 26th try at parole.

His parole could last up to five years, meaning he could gain complete freedom by age 70, but there probably won't be many more violent actions from him.

"For a black-and-white TV, how much do you have to pay?" Hasberry said. "We've got an in-house joke here: How much time would he have gotten if he had stolen a color TV?"

I wonder how many 65-year olds you see in prison for stealing TVs?

 

[cronxeh]

Sure life is too much, but he was a repeated criminal.

I think the appropriate time would be 5 years tops, and even then 5 years is a hell of a lot of time and can't possibly be assigned to a first timer.

 

[hypatia]

26 times in front of the parole board makes me believe he had some other issues while imprisoned. Perhaps he continued his pattern of violent behavior while locked up. I'm thinking the assault aspect of the older woman{plus a history of assault}, played heavily in the sentencing.
It was only after he had no infractions for 3 years and completed a work program he was deemed safe.

 

[PerennialII]

Weird case, although can't really get a complete picture what comes to this case, the "strikes" concept does seem to go against "common sense" repeatedly.