At 17, Lars Hanson committed a crime and was sentenced to prison. As a kid, he had a hard adjustment in prison and had to learn quickly how to defend himself. He became hardened. At 22, he went in front of the parole board and voiced to them about the violence he had been subjected to and his concerns for being paroled. They paroled him anyway with no preparation for adjusting to life outside of prison and no strong support system. Please keep in mind that he was incarcerated as an adult during his formative years. Six months after being paroled he was faced with his first altercation since being out. He responded in the way he learned to do in prison, with violence. He stabbed the person and this person died as a result. 

  Lars does not deny what happened and he takes responsibility for his actions. At trial, he was found guilty and during sentencing, the jury asked the judge how much time would Lars have to serve before he was paroled for a 20, 30, and 40 year sentence?  The judge responded by telling the jurors that they should not concern themselves with mandatory minimums or parole. The jury sentenced Lars to Life without knowing or being informed that parole had been abolished in Virginia two years prior. So unknowingly, the jury sentenced Lars to Life without Parole. Is this the sentence they intended for him?  Prior to the abolishment of parole, a Life sentence would have made Lars eligible for parole after serving 15 years.

   In 2000 an inmate, Fishback, took his case where his jury wasn’t informed about the abolishment of parole, to the Supreme Court and won. It was then ordered that not informing the jury was unconstitutional and deprived them of necessary information in which to make an informed decision on sentencing. Unfortunately, the court did not make this retroactive. All inmates between 1995 and 2000 are now considered “Fishback” inmates and the state of Virginia has yet to pass legislation to correct the miscarriage of justice. 

  Lars Hanson is now 46 and has served 24 years. He has over 20 years without any incidences of violence. He has voluntarily taken self improvement courses, he has taken a trade school course, he has rehabilitated himself. He is no longer the young impulsive kid that he was. He now has a strong support system outside of prison and a solid plan to reintegrate into society. We aren’t asking for Lars to be automatically set free, we are asking that he be given the opportunity to show how he has grown and is ready to be free.  We are asking that he be given the sentence that the jury handed to him...Life with no mention of “without parole”.  We are requesting that Lars Hanson be eligible for parole.