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Louisiana prisoner freed after 41 years of unconstitutional life sentence
Source: Reuters
World | Fri Apr 29, 2016 8:02pm EDT
Louisiana prisoner freed after 41 years of unconstitutional life sentence
A Louisiana man walked free from the state's notorious Angola prison late on Friday after serving 41 years of an unconstitutional life sentence over the shooting death of a white high school student during a violent and racially charged chapter in the state's fight to segregate schools.
The high-profile case of Gary Tyler, 57, ended when he entered a guilty plea and was sentenced to 21 years - just over half of the time served - and told he could go home Friday, according to a statement released on behalf of Tyler and his attorneys.
Tyler is among a generation of prisoners who faced harsh conditions and years or even decades in solitary confinement for convictions during racially charged events in Louisiana.
Angola is considered among the toughest of the state's prisons, once a part of a Deep South plantation and known for seething racial tensions and harsh treatment of inmates.
At age 16 in 1974, Tyler was the youngest person on Louisiana's Death Row, where an all-white jury sent Tyler, who is black, to die for the slaying of 13-year-old Thomas Weber, a fellow Destrehan High School student in St. Charles Parish in southern Louisiana.
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Louisiana prisoner freed after 41 years of unconstitutional life sentence
A Louisiana man walked free from the state's notorious Angola prison late on Friday after serving 41 years of an unconstitutional life sentence over the shooting death of a white high school student during a violent and racially charged chapter in the state's fight to segregate schools.
The high-profile case of Gary Tyler, 57, ended when he entered a guilty plea and was sentenced to 21 years - just over half of the time served - and told he could go home Friday, according to a statement released on behalf of Tyler and his attorneys.
Tyler is among a generation of prisoners who faced harsh conditions and years or even decades in solitary confinement for convictions during racially charged events in Louisiana.
Angola is considered among the toughest of the state's prisons, once a part of a Deep South plantation and known for seething racial tensions and harsh treatment of inmates.
At age 16 in 1974, Tyler was the youngest person on Louisiana's Death Row, where an all-white jury sent Tyler, who is black, to die for the slaying of 13-year-old Thomas Weber, a fellow Destrehan High School student in St. Charles Parish in southern Louisiana.
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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-louisiana-prison-idUSKCN0XQ2O2
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