In 1996, Kirk Bell was arrested for possession of cocaine with the intent to distribute, after police claimed they saw him throw down a pill bottle with some cocaine inside it. Mr. Bell was in his 20s when he was arrested for this charge, but because he had two prior convictions, the judge gave him a sentence of life without parole. With only two prior convictions that sentence would be illegal under today’s laws.
Mr. Bell’s lawyer did little to stop the imposition of this sentence: he did not explain the mitigating circumstances of his prior convictions, the personal difficulties that had led Mr. Bell to interactions with the law, his strong family support, nor his capacity for change. When the judge sentenced Mr. Bell, all he looked at was a list of crimes.
Innocence & Justice Louisiana filed a post-conviction petition alleging that Mr. Bell’s counsel was constitutionally deficient at sentencing for failing to offer any evidence of mitigation, when much existed. A judge agreed that he was entitled to a new sentence and in 2023 Mr. Bell was resentenced and released.
He served nearly 28 years in prison.
