In the eyes of the state of Alabama, parolee Jerry Lett did everything right.
Yet Lett was due to turn himself in to law enforcement on Friday, his 53rd birthday, after the state parole board voided his 2020 early parole grant.
An eleventh hour reprieve out of a local Montgomery court granted Lett more time as his lawyers fight what they say is an unconstitutional parole revocation based on the state’s own error.
State officials agree Lett, a combat veteran sentenced in 2018 on a cocaine trafficking charge, had fully complied with parole conditions since his release from prison last fall. But the parole bureau said it erred in allowing Lett an early parole hearing in September 2020.
Whitmire: Alabama lawmakers’ transparency promises you can see right through
Updated 8:54 AM;
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Sen. Rodger Smitherman voted to allow a public records bill out of committee this week, but dont mistake that for support. (Mickey Welsh/Montgomery Advertiser via AP)AP
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This is an opinion column.
A rewrite of Alabama’s worst-in-the-nation open records law passed out of a state Senate committee this week on a 9-to-1 vote. Maybe I should be happy about that.
After three years of pushing by public accountability advocates (including the Alabama Press Association, of which my employer is a member) this is the furthest these government transparency reforms have ever gotten.
Alabama News
An Alabama veteran who has met all of his parole conditions is fighting to avoid additional time behind bars after state officials say they mistakenly gave him an early release.
The Montgomery Advertiser reports the Alabama Bureau of Pardons and Paroles has voided 53-year-old Jerry Lett’s parole.
State officials say under a law passed in 2019, Lett did not serve the minimum amount of time needed to be eligible for early parole.
He was due to turn himself in on Friday, but a judge granted him a temporary reprieve. Lett’s attorneys say he has done nothing wrong since he was released following a drug conviction and cannot be punished for the state’s error.
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The Alabama Board of Pardons and Parole in September granted Lett a rare early parole, which Lett has closely adhered to in the months since his release.
But the state said they erred in setting Lett s hearing after a 2019 change in parole laws. Lett s early parole consideration date was set for 2020 when he was first sentenced for cocaine trafficking in 2018.
Lett is expected to report for arrest on Friday morning. The parole board issued a warrant for Sgt. Lett’s arrest immediately after the hearing, said Hannah Riley, communications director for the Southern Center for Human Rights, which represented Lett in his parole case. He will be taken into custody tomorrow morning his birthday.