In January 2000, Mr. Skinner was sentenced to life in prison for selling a small amount of cocaine to an undercover officer. He only had two prior convictions, neither violent, but the habitual offender law still made him eligible for a life sentence. His lawyer at sentencing did not offer any argument or evidence for why he should not receive the harshest punishment. Under today’s laws this sentence would be illegally lengthy.
Mr. Skinner remained in prison for nearly 22 years. He took rehabilitative programming and pursued his education, focusing on training in construction and hanging sheetrock. He also continued to file motions challenging his sentence.
In the summer of 2020, Innocence & Justice Louisiana enrolled in Mr. Skinner’s case and filed a motion laying out arguments for why his sentence was illegal and why his lawyer had not fulfilled his constitutional duty to represent Mr. Skinner adequately at sentencing. In February, 2021, a judge agreed to vacate Mr. Skinner’s sentence and re-sentence him to time served. He was immediately released.
