James Kelly gets life when a money bag from a police station ends up in his car? Swears he was frame
Kelly, a married father worked as a forklift operator. He says he stole in the past as he struggled with drug addiction, but had finally entered treatment following a prior arrest and was getting his life back on track.
He was washing cars and doing janitorial work for the Police Department in central Mississippi. A court clerk noticed a money bag was missing from a desk drawer, and police later recovered it from Kelly’s car, but Kelly swears that he was framed by the police.
He was sentenced to mandatory LWOP under Mississippi’s habitual offender law because of his prior convictions for robbery and grand larceny.
Kelly has completed drug treatment in prison and says that being separated from his family has been “pure hell.”
Read full story at ACLU Special Report. A Living Death: Life Without Parole for Nonviolent Offenses.
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As voters, citizens, taxpayers and bystanders, we as a society have inhumanely punished thousands of nonviolent people. Currently Washington DC and 30 states have compensation statutes for wrongfully convicted inmates. Congress’ recommended amount is $63,000 for each year served. On the other hand, overly sentenced victims who in many cases have suffered equally or worse typically receive $20 and a bus ticket if they are fortunate enough to ever be released.
Select the link below to donate directly to Kelly to help him with legal and other expenses. Most of these inhumanely sentenced inmates don't remember the last time they were able to buy personal items or snacks from the commissary. No donation is too small. JPAY is used for state inmates and Western Union for federal.
No Harsh Justice inmate has ever been convicted of a violent crime.
Donate to Kelly's Legal Fund (Select Mississippi, Inmate ID=42986)
Note: 100% of your donation goes directly into the inmate's prison account.