Jan 12, 2021
NEW ORLEANS (AP) A New Orleans city council member took the oath of office as the city’s new district attorney Monday, facing a pandemic-related backlog of cases and high expectations from criminal justice reform advocates who rallied around him despite his indictment on federal tax charges.
Jason Williams vowed in his inaugural speech to hold those guilty of serious crimes accountable. But he repeatedly stressed the need in a city with a high incarceration rate and a high percentage of Black prisoners to stop seeking jail time for people whose crimes are related to poverty, drug addiction or mental illness.
For New Orleans new prosecutor, high hopes, a legal cloud
by Kevin McGill, The Associated Press
Posted Jan 11, 2021 10:17 am EDT
Last Updated Jan 11, 2021 at 10:28 am EDT
FILE - In this Wednesday, July 22, 2020 file photo, New Orleans City Councilperson Jason Williams arrives at the Clerk of Criminal District Courts to qualify for the Orleans Parish DA race in New Orleans, La. Jason Williams takes the oath of office as the city’s new district attorney on Monday, Jan. 11, 2021 facing budget challenges, a pandemic-related backlog of cases and high expectations from criminal justice reform advocates who rallied around his campaign despite his indictment on federal tax charges. (Max Becherer/The Advocate via AP, File)
After overcoming homelessness and a life sentence over $20 worth of marijuana, Fate Winslow is finally free Taylor Ardrey Fate Winslow. Fate Winslow was released from Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola last week after serving 12 years for a non-violent drug offence. Winslow was convicted for marijuana distribution after selling $US20 worth of marijuana to an undercover police officer in 2008. Now, finally released, he told Insider has plans to reconnect with his family and pursue a job in landscaping. It just feels good being free, Winslow told Insider.
He was sentenced to life without parole for marijuana distribution after selling $US20 worth to a plain-clothed officer in 2008. Recently homeless, Winslow was standing on the street in Shreveport with a friend when the undercover cop confronted him and asked him for marijuana.
A homeless man sentenced to life in prison for a $20 marijuana sale is freed after 12 years By: CNN
By Leah Asmelash, CNN (CNN) In 2008, Fate Winslow was approached by a plain-clothed undercover police officer in Shreveport, Louisiana, looking for some marijuana.
Winslow, recently homeless at the time, borrowed a friend s bike and came back 10 minutes later with two small bags of marijuana worth $20, according to the Innocence Project New Orleans, who represented Winslow.
The officer arrested Winslow. And because Winslow had three priors a burglary of a business when he was 17 in 1985, a car burglary in 1995 and possession of cocaine when he was 36 the $20 sale landed Winslow a life sentence, according to IPNO.