Nothing to say, yet
Transcription
Lakeith Smith, a 15-year-old boy from Alabama, was sentenced to over 50 years in prison for being involved in a break-in. During the incident, his friend was killed by the police. Despite there being no evidence connecting him to the murder, he was charged with felony murder. The sentence has been reduced to 30 years, but there is still a call for justice for Lakeith. This case highlights the disproportionate impact on young black males in the criminal justice system. The campaign group, Justice for Lakeith Smith, urges people to sign a petition and show support for him. Well, welcome again to this episode of the Diary of a Lawyer, and today I want to talk about a case in the United States, in the southern state of Alabama, regarding a young man, then 15 years old, Lakeith Smith. Lakeith Smith was sentenced to almost a total of over 50 years for being involved in a break-in into unoccupied homes at the time, and when the police showed up, it was stated that his friend was killed, and he was subsequently charged with Alabama law, felony murder law, which led to him being sentenced for those many years, although based on the facts of the case, it would appear he didn't do anything that was in their way connected with the actual murder of his friend, and it is the police that killed his friend, another young man. So these are just the quick facts of the case, that's the summary of the case. So according to the campaign group Justice for LakeithSmith.com, there was a break-in into unoccupied homes in February 2015, a 16-year-old friend of Lakeith Smith, Adonte Washington, was killed by the police, Lakeith was not tried as a juvenile, despite being 15 at a time, he was also charged with other crimes such as theft, burglary, and felony murder. He was held in prison, and he was later sentenced for all of those alleged crimes, including felony murder. He was sentenced for 15 years of burglary, 10 years for each of the covert charges, and 30 years for the felony murder, despite being a non-violent 15-year-old with no prior criminal history according to the justice campaign. Since then, the last few days ago, this has been reduced to 30 years, but his lawyers claim on the campaign team that today doesn't feel like justice, and Justice Judge Sybil Reynolds, who is involved in the case, refused to release a request to release a 15-year-old, I think now 24-years-old, Lakeith Smith. So, this is a disturbing case of yet another black boy in the history of the American justice team, sentenced for crime, felony murder that he did not actually commit, because there's no evidence I have seen that says that he was in any way responsible for the death of his friend, but I guess that brings a wider concern about the whole felony murder charges, and that sentencing feels hugely disproportionate. It does not also take into account his legal responsibility for the alleged felony murder, and it basically takes away any point of correction for the 15-year-old in a non-violent crime. There is suddenly, according to the campaign and from prima facie look at it, is a miscarriage of justice, and the campaign group Justice for Lakeith Smith calls for people to sign a petition, share widely, and comment or write in so that justice is done for this young man. I think we all know the movie of Emmett, slightly similar but not as, in this case, it's a lead to the death of a 16-year-old by the police, but in another case here, it's a disproportionate sentence of over 50 years for a 15-year-old who did not, was not involved in any violence at all. So it's yet another example, as many have commented on social media, of the disproportionate detrimental impact on the lives of particularly young black males in America within the criminal justice system. So that's it in a nutshell about the case of Lakeith Smith. You can go to their Google page, their campaign page, Justice for Lakeith Smith, on Twitter, on YouTube, and all other social media, and add your voice so that this young man experiences what actual justice looks like. Thank you. So that's it in a nutshell. This is it for today on this episode of the Diary of a Lawyer. I will speak again soon. Thank you. Bye.
