Mississippi court upholds life sentence for pot possession

Published 9:12 pm Wednesday, May 12, 2021


(AP) — The Mississippi Court of Appeals on Tuesday upheld a life sentence for a man convicted of a marijuana possession charge because he had previous convictions and those made him a habitual offender.









Russell was given two concurrent 15-year sentences after pleading guilty to burglary in April 2004. The charging documents in those cases indicate the two burglaries involved the same house and occurred two days apart.

He served a little more than eight and a half years, and was released from prison in February 2014.

Russell pleaded guilty to possession of a weapon as a convicted felon in October 2015. He was sentenced to 10 years but was only required to serve two.

He was then arrested on November 29, 2017, for possessing marijuana. Under Mississippi law, possession of between 30 and 250 grams (1.05 and 8.8 ounces) of marijuana can carry a punishment of up to three years in prison, a $3,000 fine, or both.

Russell was found with five bags of a leafy green substance. Two of the bags, weighing around 44 grams (1.55 ounces), were tested by a lab and confirmed to be marijuana.

Earlier this year, Republican Gov. Tate Reeves signed a criminal justice bill into law that expands parole eligibility for some people, but not habitual offenders. Senate Bill 2795 will become law July 1.