New Orleans man freed after 23-year sentence for stealing 2 shirts
Matt Sledge
NEW ORLEANS Guy Frank wears a silver watch on his right arm. It s a memento from his brother Joe, who died of cancer last April during Frank s 20th year in prison.
The deaths mounted as Frank served a 23-year sentence for stealing two shirts from a Canal Street department store under Louisiana s version of a three strikes law. The 11th and last relative to go was his father, who died weeks before Frank walked free on April 8. It hurt me to see these people die while I was in prison, Frank said last Friday, his voice choking with emotion. I can t go back and get them out of the grave.
Man freed after 23-year sentence for stealing 2 shirts | I just want to be happy
Guy Frank served a 23-year sentence for stealing two shirts from a Canal Street department store under Louisiana’s version of a “three strikes” law.
Credit: AP
Guy Frank is poses for a photo at the office of the Innocence Project New Orleans in New Orleans, Friday, April 16, 2021. Frank served a 23-year sentence for stealing two shirts from a Canal Street department store under Louisiana’s version of a “three strikes” law. Until this month, Frank was one of an untold number of people still imprisoned by a harsher era of criminal justice. (Max Becherer/The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate via AP)
Until this month, Frank was one of an untold number of people still imprisoned by a harsher era of criminal justice. But the 6th Ward native now has nearly three years of his life back, thanks to parallel projects from a non-profit law firm and the District Attorney’s Office to review and reverse old, unjust sentences.
At least six people from Orleans Parish serving life prison terms under the habitual offender statute have been freed so far during Jason Williams’ term, and prosecutors have filed a motion to remove the sentencing enhancement from another case, according to a review of state prison records. The District Attorney’s Office declined to give its own count.
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Man Freed After Spending 20 Years in Prison for Stealing Two Shirts
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New Orleans man Guy Frank is making headlines after he was released from prison after 20 years for stealing two shirts. Frank, 67, was sentenced under Louisiana s version of a three strikes law.
Frank stated that he didn t know what he was doing when he pleaded guilty to a felony theft charge for stealing two shirts from a Saks Fifth Avenue store in 2000, which he said he had done that day and prior to support his heroin habit. Frank was initially given a 2-year sentence, but former District Attorney Harry Connick Sr.’s office invoked the habitual offender law, raising his minimum sentence to 20 years. After that, Orleans Parish Criminal District Court Judge Sharon Hunter upped the sentence to 23 years.