home

Junior Allen: Paroled After 33 Years for Stealing TV

By Jeralyn, Section Inmates and Prisons
Posted on Sat May 28, 2005 at 07:16:25 PM EST
Tags: (all tags)
Share This: Digg! StumbleUpon del.icio.us reddit reddit

33 years after stealing a $140 black and white television set, Junior Allen has been released on parole. He is now 64 years old. He is not a habitual offender and he didn't rack up a bad prison record. But a North Carolina judge imposed a life sentence.

TalkLeft wrote about Mr. Allen after his 26th parole hearing denial.

More news background here

Prosecutor Mike Beam became Allen's most unlikely ally two years ago, when he worked for the county that put Allen behind bars. "I've never heard anything like this," Beam said. "In my personal opinion, it's time to let him go, turn the key."

A little more here:

Allen's incarceration has cost North Carolina taxpayers nearly $30,000 a year, or about a $1 million so far. ...As for the woman who owned the television set, she was in her 80s at the time of the crime and passed away in 1977. Several of her relatives contacted us about this story and said Allen has paid for his crime. They insist the reason he got such a harsh sentence was because he fought with the victim -- a crime for which Allen was never charged.

< Schapelle Corby Assigned Impossible Task | ' Last Best Chance': Hypothetical Nuclear Doomsday Film >

  • The Online Magazine with Liberal coverage of crime-related political and injustice news

  • Contribute To TalkLeft


    • Display: Sort:
    Junior Allen: Paroled After 33 Years for Stealing TV | 1 comment (1 topical)
    Re: Junior Allen: Paroled After 33 Years for Steal (none / 0) (#1)
    by wishful on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:26 PM EST
    Sentencing practices in this country are a real travesty. It is a regular occurrence that uncharged and, even more shockingly, acquitted behavior, are used to lengthen sentences. I believe that Apprendi and Blakely were all about addressing such unconstitutional sentences, but their effect has hardly stopped this unconscionable behavior by our "justice" system.

    Junior Allen: Paroled After 33 Years for Stealing TV | 1 comment (1 topical)