Alvin Kennard was just 22 years old in the year 1983 when he received a life sentence without the possibility of parole for stealing a sum of $50.
75 from a bakery.
Thirty-six years after his arrest, the man is now about to be freed.
However, Alvin, now 58, didn’t get the life sentence for this offense alone. He was charged with state of Alabama’s old Habitual Felony Offender Act which is sometimes referred to as ‘three strikes law.’
The case of the bakery heist was a first-degree burglary charge and Alvin had already been charged with three counts of second-degree robbery for which he was sentenced with 3 years of probation in 1979.
Alvin is now going to get out of jail after the orders of his release from Donaldson Correctional Facility, Bessemer, Alabama, were issued by a judge.
The video of the courtroom when the judge ordered his release shows the overwhelmingly excited and happy reaction from his friends and family.
His folks almost leaped into the air upon hearing the verdict of judge David Carpenter.
Patricia Jones, Alvin’s niece, told WBRC: “All of us [were] crying. We’ve been talking about it for, I don’t know, 20-plus years, about being free.”
Carla Crowder, Alvin’s attorney, told ABC: “The judge in this case noticed how odd it seemed that someone was serving life without parole for a $50 robbery. This was a judge that kind of went out of his way.”
While Alvin was 18 years old in 1979, he confessed three counts of second-degree burglary including breaking into a deserted service station. He was sentenced to three years of probation for these charges.
When it came to his final crime, the bakery robbery, in which he used a pocket knife and managed to get away with the cash without hurting anyone, the court sentenced him to life with no possibility of parole.
ABC News says if the robbery was done today, he would have been sent to prison for 10 to 21 years under the present laws.
Alvin’s attorney Ms. Crowder said: “As incredible as this opportunity is for Mr. Kennard and as happy as we are for him, we know that there are hundreds of similarly situated incarcerated people in the state who don’t have attorneys, who don’t have a voice.”
She continued: “When I first went to visit him the guard was chatting with me, and when he saw who I was visiting, he said, ‘That’s one that you could let him out and he wouldn’t cause any more trouble.'”
Alvin’s case is still under process which means he’s not released yet. But he will be set free in a matter of some days.
Recommended Video For You!
“Walmart is using AI cameras to fight theft”
[rumble video_id=v588mx domain_id=u7nb2]