Fourth marijuana conviction gets Slidell man life in prison | NOLA.com Cornell Hood II got off with probation after three marijuana convictions in New Orleans. View full sizeEllis Lucia, The Times-PicayuneSt. Tammany Parish Justice Center, Covington He didn't fare too well after moving to St. Tammany Parish, however. A single such conviction on the north shore landed the 35-year-old in prison for the rest of his life. State Judge Raymond S. Childress punished Hood under Louisiana's repeat-offender law in his courtroom in Covington on Thursday. A jury on Feb. 15 found the defendant guilty of attempting to possess and distribute marijuana at his Slidell home, court records show. Hood moved from eastern New Orleans to the Slidell area after he admitted to separate charges of distribution of marijuana and possession with intent to distribute marijuana on Dec. 18, 2009, in Orleans Parish Criminal District Court. He received a suspended five-year prison sentence and five years' of probation for each -- which was precisely the same penalty he got in that court after pleading guilty to possessing and intending to distribute marijuana on Feb. 22, 2005. When Hood switched homes, he also requested a new probation officer based in St. Tammany. Authorities granted the wish, and the officer, Dustin Munlin, drove to Hood's place for a routine visit on Sept. 27, 2010. Munlin found nearly two pounds of pot throughout the house, according to court records. He alerted Sheriff's Office deputies. They arrested Hood, who apparently shared the King's Point house with his mother and young son. Prosecutors later charged him with one count of possession with intent to distribute marijuana. At Hood's one-day trial, the evidence presented by the prosecution included a digital scale and about a dozen bags that had contained marijuana before being seized from the house, testimony showed. Deputies also found $1,600 in cash and a student-loan application with Hood's name on it inside of a night stand. Jurors deliberated for less than two hours and convicted Hood of a reduced charge, which usually carries no more than 15 years' imprisonment. Assistant District Attorney Nick Noriea Jr. then used Hood's past convictions on Thursday to argue that he was a career criminal worthy of a severe punishment. Drug offenders in the state are subject to life imprisonment after being convicted three or more times of a crime that carries a sentence exceeding 10 years.
This is fucking disgusting. Now this guy's kid will grow up with his father in prison and the taxpayers will waste hundreds of thousands of dollars to keep him incarcerated for the rest of his life. All because of a harmless plant. I live about an hour and a half from Slidell, that shit makes me nervous.
^ i actually agree with that. You were arrested 3 times already, you apparantly suck at not getting caught, he should have realized he would get caught again and known that the fourth is life in prison. Im super baked so not sure if that makes sense.. but either way its a bitch that marijuana gets this guy life
I agree with you. It is a shame that the guy is going to jail for weed BUT until the laws are changed you got to know whats in store for you if you get caught. He didn't and now he's Bubba's bitch for life.
That's fine as far as it goes, but it won't get us very far. There is no reason why we should accept this. Even when we factor in a philosophical view about how it's a game and "them's the rules" and all that, this is unacceptable and counterproductive by any metric I care to consider. Let's say he lives a few decades behind bars. He's like 35 so let's give him an estimated 35 years behind bars, just to have a number to work with. I'd guesstimate we'll be paying between 20 and 30 thousand a year for a private company to house him in their prison. And his only productive efforts at all over those years may be as cheap labor for the company that owns the prison. Regardless of those details, whatever they may end up being, let's see, 25K/yr X 35yrs equals 875,000$ in this guesstimate of the order of magnitude of our future expenditure which will continue as long as this kind of stupidity is tolerated and even applauded. Shit, 875,000$?, that's not bad, I'll gladly chip in to help teach this guy a lesson. Sure, that seems excessively reasonable to me. Will I feel safer when he's in jail? Can I just pretend I do?
Life in prison for doing something that hurts nobody else is NEVER acceptable. If he was arrested for it a thousand times for this before it wouls still not be acceptable.
You guys should be ashamed of yourself. NOBODY deserves life in prison for selling dime bags. Or any amount of pot for that matter. He got caught with 1600 dollars. That is nothing.
St tammany parish is a fucking ruthless parish. I worked down there in slidell for 2 months this year and cops are redic
Love how everyone thinks he got put away for just "weed" Do some research and look at his priors...he deserved what he got.
Jesus christ, who's baby did he rape for pete's sake? I mean really. Got a link or something showing where this guy needed to be sent to prison for life anyways so it's just as well to send him up for a coupla pounds of weed? What did he do to actually deserve a life sentence? I really would like to know.
I know dudes that got off easier from a man slaughter. the fuck US court system. Im sure hes going to keep appealing and i HOPE the system isnt that corrupt to actually keep him in jail for life. wtf
I agree. The man is exactly where he needs to be at. I hope they're housing him in the Dambass section of the jail. Some people just don't learn and this is what happens to them. They end up getting fucked and a bunch of people want to cry a river of tears for the stupid bastard.
either way i feel bad for him. if it werent for weed being illegal he wouldent be in jail. i just dont like when anyone goes to jail for a harmless plant thats being made seem way more dangerous than it actually is...damn
I once saw a documentary about American prisons. This one man got locked up for life. While in prison, he studied law. As he studied that, he found out that he shouldn't have been locked up for life. He appealed his case and got free after three years. What if this man chose to study something else? He would have still be in prison unjustly.