New Orleans – A Louisiana man accused of stuffing $31 worth of candy bars into his pockets faces a possible sentence of 20 years to life in prison, prompting a judge to question whether the sentence was “over the top.”
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Orleans Parish prosecutors chose to charge Jacobia Grimes, 34, under a statute that boosts the alleged candy theft to a felony. The law applies to people who have been convicted of “theft of goods” at least twice. Grimes has five prior theft convictions, making him a “quad” offender under the state’s habitual-offender law.
Grimes, 34, pleaded not guilty Thursday, The New Orleans Advocate (http://bit.ly/1SIUcWm) reported.
The possible sentence raised questions with Judge Franz Zibilich, who was overseeing Grimes’ arraignment last week.
“Isn’t this a little over the top?” Zibilich said. “Twenty years to life for a Snickers bar, or two or three or four.”
Grimes’ attorneys, Miles Swanson and Michael Kennedy, said his prior guilty pleas were for similar shoplifting attempts, including stealing from a Rite-Aid, Save-A-Center, Blockbuster Video, and Rouses grocery stores.
Swanson said all the thefts were for less than $500 worth of items. The last theft of socks and trousers from a Dollar General store got him a four-year sentence in 2010.
One of his lawyers said he could have been charged under a different statute than the habitual-offender law.
“They’re spending their time to lock someone up for years over $31 worth of candy,” Swanson said.
Grimes also faces a charge of drug paraphernalia possession. He is currently free on $5,000 bond, court records show. His lawyers say he has a heroin problem. Grimes also has convictions for possession with intent to sell fake drugs and obscenity, a crime committed while he was behind bars, the newspaper reported.
Christopher Bowman, a spokesman for the district attorney’s office, would not comment on the specifics of Grimes’ case, citing office policy. He emphasized that the alleged crime was considered a felony by the state.
The case appears to be an extreme example of a widespread practice in Louisiana, which criminal justice reform advocates say has one of the toughest habitual-offender laws in the country, the newspaper reported.
$31 worth of candy=20 years of jail = about 1 million of taxpayers Money. Let him keep the candy and we save $ 999.970.00
It’s funny how all of a sudden they down play this …..the guy is a good for nothing crook
When he is old and grey let him out
The world was destroyed during the flood because of people stealing. Even though it’s a small sum he stole, it reflects on his lack of respect for society. But it would benefit society more if he could somehow work to repay for what he stole and to send him to dig rehab.
This is crazy. The whole system needs to be reformed including the part that prosecutors are motivated by a high conviction score, rather then coomon senses justice.
It would be cheaper to enroll him in a good school with supervision to learn a trade so that he could buy what he wants and get a good feeling for himself.
Totally ridiculous. How much will it cost to keep in in jail for 20 years?
And how many millions of dollars will it cost tax payers who don’t really care about the $31.
To all the law and order tough guys above who think the sentence would be just fine — why do I know that if a frum Yid stole some inexpensive merchandise – -even if he had a history of stealing inexpensive merchandise — you’d be crying and shokeling and screaming about what a shandah it is that under American law such relatively harmless acts could bring such a draconian judgment? As a matter of fact, so many on this site have screamed bloody murder when a frum Yid is sentenced to serious time for committing crimes far worse than what this fellow is accused of. The stinking hypocrisy among so many frum Jews is so blatant, as is the double standards and racism. And we hold ourselves up as paragons of spirituality and virtue. Ha!
l agree with #3, l Sodom they were filled with “chomoss” stealing insignificant amounts. It would be better to let him work off his debts and pay everything back that he stole and he also do community service.
Some real attention to decent child care, mental health and drug addiction would go a long way in this country.
#14 , as I understand it, the local town or county cuts back on child care, slashes social work programs, let drug addiction go, encourages more drinking and whatnot. When someone messes up his life because of all this, they lock him up in the state penitentiary. So the local government washes its hand of the expense of locking him up. They just mess up lives and then pass the cost to the state.