Alabama man who spent 36 years in prison for stealing $50 from a bakery set to be freed
Alvin Kennard, 58, who served 36 years in prison after being caught of stealing $50.75 from a bakery store in Alabama has finally been sentenced to walk free after a judge looked at his case again.
Kennard was sentenced to life imprisonment without the option of having parole back in 1983 for the first-degree robbery, as reported by The Daily Mail. After spending so many years behind the bars, Kennard was finally released on August 28 and is being processed out by the Alabama Department of Corrections. Kennard was sentenced to such a punishment due to Alabama's old 'three strikes law' which is also known as the Habitual Felony Offender Act. When Kennard was arrested he already had two charges under his name. These included burglary and grand larceny.
After being caught stealing money from the bakery,Kennard had his third strike which made him eligible to be detained under the act. This law was first passed in 1994 with an aim to implement strict reforms and to ensure that the incidence of crime come down. Under this law, the only punishment that a person receives is life imprisonment. However, if Kennard would have been convicted today, things would have been different for him as he would have received a sentence of 10 years or life imprisonment with the option of receiving parole.
Had this been applicable, there was a high probability that Kennard might have had the opportunity to walk free in 1999. While appearing in front of the judge Kennard noted how he wanted a chance to turn his life and choose the right path. "I'm sorry for what I did... I was wrong. I take responsibility for what I did in the past. I want the opportunity to get it right," he told the judge.
Kennard was full of joy after hearing the verdict of the judge. The judge cut short his sentence to that he had already served and gave him the opportunity to walk out. His family, who were also present in the courtroom, could not contain their happiness and burst out to cheer for him after listening to the verdict.
Kennard now plans to live the rest of his life with his family while getting into carpentry. Kennard's resentencing came after Alabama decided to change their sentencing guidelines in 2013 as the prison cells were getting crowded. Alabama even started an Alabama Sentencing Commission to help judges make a decision with regard to cases such as that of Kennard. His niece Patricia Jones told the outlet that she often visited him in the prison and throughout the years she saw how he had changed as a person.
"It was a couple of years that he started talking about God and I knew he had changed," she said. "He wants to be forgiven for what he had done and he wants the opportunity to come back and learn how to survive." She also attributed this change in Kennard's life as a God gift while adding that she is sure Kennard would walk on the right path from now.