Justice for Sean: Excessive Sentencing: LIFE in Prison for Pepper Spray
Justice for Sean: Excessive Sentencing: LIFE in Prison for Pepper Spray
On January 22, 2016 my son, Sean Grigsby, after spending 2 years in the custody of the Oklahoma County jail and being coerced by his defense attorney into signing, without reading or fully understanding, what is known in the state of Oklahoma as a Blind Plea, was sentenced to LIFE in prison by the now disgraced judge Timothy R. Henderson for the crime of robbery w/ pepper spray.
A "Blind Plea" is a guilty plea without an agreed sentence. The sentencing decision is left completely up to the judge. He or she can sentence you anywhere from the lowest possible sentence up to the maximum allowed by law for the crime to which you are pleading guilty. 5 yrs - LIFE.
No defendant in the State of Oklahoma has EVER been sentenced to LIFE in prison for this type of charge UNLESS the crime resulted in a loss of life, there was no loss of life in this case. Murder cases can get lesser sentences than this.
Although Sean takes full responsibility for his actions that led up to this event, this crime was committed while my son was living on the street and struggling with a severe addiction to opiates.
Sean is not a violent person. He has never been to prison before, and he has never been convicted of a felony before this. He does not deserve to die in prison.
And without the circumstances of his severe addiction to opiates we know without a doubt that he would have never committed this crime, but Henderson would hear none of this.
In the courtroom immediately after giving Sean the sentence of LIFE in prison, Henderson made an open statement that if my son proved to him that he was serious about changing his life, and stayed out of trouble his first year in prison, that he would drastically reduce his sentence at his one year judicial review.
My son has been clean & sober for almost six years now, and has been a model inmate his entire incarceration without one single misconduct report, and has done everything the Oklahoma prison system has allowed him to prove that he has completely turned his life around and that this single act does not define him. He is a graduate of the Freedom Challenge one year faith based recovery program at GEO Lawton, working as a teacher and mentor to his fellow inmates in the program for another full year, and has recently earned the rare privilege of being transferred from GEO Lawton to Lexington Correctional Center where he now works at a call center in the P.I.E. Program there.
But at Sean's one year judicial review, after presenting all of his incredible accomplishments within the prison system, and expressing his sincerest remorse to the victim that he committed this crime against, judge Timothy R. Henderson denied his request to modify the LIFE sentence that he gave him just one year before, without any reason, other than making the peculiar statement to my son that, "I've seen cases where defendant's had murdered their victim's in order to obtain money for drugs, and in my opinion what you did was worse. Denied." And sent Sean back to prison with the same excessive sentence of LIFE behind bars.
Did you know that to detain an inmate for a LIFE sentence in the state of Oklahoma it costs taxpayers roughly $3,500,000. That's 3.5 million dollars...Does that sound very logical to you? For stealing a car w/ pepper spray? A first time offender? Couldn't that money be better used for something else? It's no wonder our prison system has no money, when judges are allowed to give out excessive sentences like this with no recourse. This LIFE sentence is costing us ALL...
Since being incarcerated, Sean has also learned that he has no chance at an appeal of any kind due to the agreement that he was coerced and rushed into signing by his own defense attorney.
But Sean has decided to not give up his fight for justice, and this October has filed for a Commutation of his sentence with the Oklahoma Pardon & Parole Board. With Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt having the final decision. He is not a danger to society. He does not deserve a LIFE sentence.
He has a place to live waiting on him with a family that loves and cares about him, and he has employment with the call center where he works that is willing to employ him after his release. His plan is to eventually become a substance abuse counselor, so that he can use his life experience to help save others.
Please help us to RIGHT this WRONG, and Bring Sean Home. Our family wishes to thank everyone for their love & support. God bless you. - James Grigsby, III.
See The Link Below:
This Is Sean's Case # (scroll until you see PURPLE letters)
https://www.oscn.net/dockets/GetCaseInformation.aspx?db=oklahoma&number=CF-2014-5956&cmid=3168918
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