An unfairly long sentence, inappropriate for the crime, is a form of wrongful incarceration. Earlier this month U.S. District Judge Terrance Boyle vacated the convictions of two North Carolina men and reduced the sentences of three other federal inmates after a 2011 U.S. Court of Appeals decision resulted in a redefinition of who should be considered a felon.
As reported here, the Appeals Court ruling prompted appeals from inmates and accompanying opposition from prosecutors, until the U.S. Department of Justice advised prosecutors to stop opposing, via procedural technicalities, legitimate appeals.
The rulings stemmed from a complex system in North Carolina that resulted in some defendants being identified and sentenced as felons, when their records did not warrant the designation, according to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in United States vs. Simmons. See the opinion here.
Coven Earl Gabriel-Vick, whose conviction was vacated, was charged with and pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm. He served three years before his conviction was overturned, because he’d been sentenced inappropriately as a felon. The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of the North Carolina Legal Foundation have been working to identify those who are either wrongfully imprisoned or serving an inappropriately long sentence as a result of the now-discredited method North Carolina had been using to identify felons.
