Activist sentenced to 15 years

Catrina Wallace was sentenced to 15 years in prison after her first arrest. This Louisiana, single mother stood before a jury of her peers as she listened to the sentence being handed down. Wallace became politically active after the arrest of her brother, he was involved in the “Jena 6” case. This case ended with all 6 men being released, all of which have went on to college.

The charges brought against her were not related to Activism in anyway. They were distribution of a controlled substance charges. She was sentenced to 5 years each for all three counts to run consecutively.

Even in Louisiana, the incarceration capital of the US, fifteen years for a first offense is somewhat exceptional, as is the stacking of consecutive sentences. “I’ve never seen a judge run anything consecutive, certainly not for drugs or a first offender,” says Miles Swanson, an attorney in private practice who used to work for the public defenders office in Orleans Parish. “In New Orleans, a case like this probably wouldn’t even go to trial – they’d likely get offered probation.”

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