Matt Carrell works a job pouring concrete.
It’s tough, physical work for a 60-year-old, but it’s better than what he was doing two months ago.
Carrell was in prison, doing a 25-year sentence for possession of meth. “It was about $150 worth of dope,†he recalls. If you think a 25-year prison sentence for drug possession is steep, you’re not alone. Carrell is free today because Gov. Mike Parson commuted the last few years of his sentence. On Aug. 11, Carrell walked out of prison after serving 19 years and 4 months behind bars.
Like several of the 14 men and women whose sentences have been cut short by Parson, Carrell had been punished severely under a “prior and persistent†offender statute that allowed harsh sentences without the possibility of parole. Lawmakers changed the law, allowing parole hearings for those who seek rehabilitation in prison, but the Missouri Supreme Court declined to apply the new law to previous sentences.
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So, first with Dimetrious Woods, and then with a series of others in similar situations, Parson set a few folks free. Many of them share a bond. Of the 14 people commuted by Parson since April 2020, half of them are from the 15th Judicial Circuit, which encompasses Saline and Lafayette Counties. A Parson spokesman says the governor is not specifically targeting any specific jurisdiction with his acts of clemency.
But it’s clear his office was aware of the particular harshness of drug sentences in the two counties adjacent to Interstate 70 on the western end of Missouri. That’s because in October 2020, defense attorney Kent Gipson wrote a letter to Parson’s then-general counsel, Chris Limbaugh, referencing several cases in the two counties.
“Although I believe the Governor should commute the excessive sentences given to all the prior drug offenders who fall into the same category as Dimetrious Woods, I have highlighted a few particularly egregious cases involving excessive sentences for nonviolent drug offenses. Perhaps the most egregious case I highlighted involved Robert Franklin, who is serving twenty-three years flat in a case that involved a pound of marijuana.â€
Franklin had his in April this year. Like Carrell, he had been sentenced in Lafayette County. “This memo also outlines another category of cases where defendants have received excessive sentences for non-violent offenses,†Gipson wrote. “In my experience, this has been the pattern and practice in the judicial circuit encompassing Saline and Lafayette Counties. Your office should also take a close look at other cases from that jurisdiction, because the cases I highlighted are not an aberration.â€
Somebody in Parson’s office was listening. Four of the seven people from that jurisdiction who have had their sentences cut short — Carrell, Deitra Cole, Anne Coke and Jason Norman — had the same judge: Circuit Judge Dennis Rolf.
Rolf is now the presiding judge in the circuit. He didn’t return phone calls or emails seeking comment. But Carrell has plenty to say.
“He hammered me,†Carrell says of Rolf. The problem with abusive sentences for people who need help with their drug addiction isn’t just with judges, Carrell says, it’s the entire system.
Carrell was addicted to meth at the time he was arrested. He’s clean now, he says, a promise he made to his mother before she died. In his case, as in many of the others like his, prosecutors offered suspended sentences on drug cases, with long probation periods. That way, a defendant gets out of jail once they agree to a plea bargain. But if they are addicted to drugs, they will fail the probation, and then will face the harsh sentence that had previously been suspended.
“What they do in Lafayette County is they tell you to take the plea or we will take you to trial and hammer you,†Carrell says. He describes a situation that is not unique to the 15th Judicial Circuit, nor Missouri. There was a time in Missouri in which a judge, before sentencing, would view a report with recommended sentences from the Missouri Sentencing Commission. That commission was created in part to respond to disparate sentences in different parts of the state. But some prosecutors and judges didn’t like being reminded that their version of justice was skewed, so they convinced the Missouri Legislature to water down the commission, and it has been dormant for several years.
The Missouri Supreme Court is trying to breathe life back into the commission. A pattern in one of its judicial districts, highlighted by a governor’s acts of mercy, should add some energy and context to those discussions.
“It’s ludicrous,†Carrell says, of the sentence that would have him in prison today if not for Parson’s action. “It doesn’t make any difference how many felonies you have or drug convictions, you shouldn’t be handing out 25-year sentences without the possibility of parole.â€