From ProPublica:
Markus Lanieux thought his prayers had been answered when, in the summer of 2021, his attorney informed him that she had struck a tentative deal with the Jefferson Parish District Attorney’s Office that would secure his freedom after 12 years in prison.
The 46-year-old son of a sugarcane farmer had been dreaming of this day since he stood in court in stunned silence as the judge sentenced him to life without parole for a crime that ordinarily carried a maximum sentence of two years.
Lanieux, who had been arrested for aggravated flight from an officer, was prosecuted under Louisiana's controversial habitual offender law, sometimes known as a “three strikes and you're out” rule. The statute allows district attorneys to significantly enhance sentences, often by decades, for people with previous felony convictions. Continue reading >>>
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