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Guest Scanderbeg

Man Released After 35 Years For Tv Theft

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Guest Scanderbeg

Man released after 35 years for TV theft

Was sentenced to life in prison

Sunday, May 29, 2005 Posted: 0217 GMT (1017 HKT)

 

 

story.television.ap.jpg

 

HILLSBOROUGH, North Carolina (AP) -- After 35 years in prison for stealing a black-and-white television set Junior Allen is a free man.

 

Allen, 65, walked out of prison Friday, ending a case that attracted widespread attention, because he remained in jail while other inmates convicted of murder, rape or child molestation were released.

 

"I'm glad to be out," Allen told supporters outside Orange 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 black-and-white television worth $140.

 

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. The penalty for the offense has since been changed to a maximum of three years in prison.

 

'At least he's got some years left'

The state Parole Commission decided last year to release Allen if he behaved and completed a transitional work-release program. He worked at a restaurant washing dishes and floors and had no prison infractions during the past three years.

 

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.

 

Rich Rosen, a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill law professor who took up Allen's case three years ago, said it was a shame that Allen had not been released decades ago. "At least he's got some years left," Rosen said.

 

Allen did not meet with the parole commission until January 2004. Prior to that time, his record was reviewed regularly by the commission and denied.

 

Rosen said the parole commission "hasn't been able to articulate a reason that Allen wasn't released."

 

"He wasn't the best prisoner, (but) he wasn't the worst," Rosen said.

 

Once outside the prison, Allen got into a car with two friends who were driving him to Athens, Georgia, where he planned to meet relatives and return home to Georgetown, Georgia, near the Alabama border.

 

Enoch Hasberry, the programs director at Carteret Correctional Center in Newport where Allen went through work-release, said he worries Allen might not adjust well to life on the outside.

 

"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?"

 

 

 

 

edition.cnn.com/2005/LAW/05/28/television.jail.ap/index.html

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...he was released several months early -- on his 26th try at parole...

 

I assume this was the same parole board letting murderers out early.

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But I'll bet he won't even think of stealing a TV again.

 

 

lol. They don't call 'em the enforcer for nothing. How incredibly harsh, fantasic :(

 

Seriously though

 

Mind-boggling and shameful.

 

 

Yes, its obscene.

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Thats shocking but I'm becoming used to hearing about twsted justice systems. I'm not sure if you guys have been following some recent rials in bali, indonesia which have convinced me to boycot ever visiting that corrupt country.

 

An Australian tourist, one Schapelle Corby, has been sentenced to 20 years in an indonesian jail after she was stopped at airport security with marajana that somebody had planted in her surf board bag. The woman was clearly inocent with no history of drugs but the nazi indonesians didn't care and gave her a long sentence anyway.

 

On the other hand, the indonesian mastermind behind the bali bombing terrorist attacks in 2002 which killed 260 people got 2.5 years. The judges were the same for both cases.

 

Terrible, utterly sick. :(

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Guest Scanderbeg

I heard Australia is working to get her back. Im sure she will. That sentencing is just insane.

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There's only so much they can do Scanderbeg, they've given Corbys legal team two queens councils to help with the appeal, but there's every chance under Indonesian law of them actually extending the sentance further if the appeal is not successful. On top of that, some loser has mailed what could potentially be Anthrax to the Indonesian Ambassador this morning in protest, it's all over the Indonesian news and it is not going to help her appeal at all. If it proves to be Anthrax (It's only been identified as an unknown bio agent so far)it will be the first terrorist attack on our soil

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A British women was jailed in Dubai for having a paracetomol based painkiller on her!

Two months she was in prison before they let her out!

L

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It wasn't anthrax - it was whizz fizz

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...she was stopped at airport security with marajana that somebody had planted in her surf board bag. The woman was clearly inocent...

 

Western citizens convicted in non-Western nations are always "clearly innocent". :o (not that I agree with the harsh sentence, I used to smoke a bit myself).

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