Equal Justice Matters Wall (S)
Stanley Veal
STANLEY VEAL
Veal says he dropped out of school after completing the eighth grade and later descended into drug addiction. According to Veal, who is Black, he was pulled over for speeding 50 miles per hour in a 20 mile-per-hour zone in Avondale and patted down and searched by police, who found the crack. In February 2000, he was initially sentenced to five years in prison but was subsequently sentenced to LWOP at age 41 because of his prior convictions for attempted armed robbery in 1985, distribution of cocaine in 1991, and cocaine possession in 1995.
Veal says of his sentence, “It felt like a death penalty…for getting high off of drugs.” Formerly a drug addict, Veal says, “I wished that I would have received treatment for substance abuse and I believed that my effort would have changed my life. I was denied treatment.” Veal has been incarcerated for 14 years and is now 55. He told the ACLU that he believes he has been rehabilitated through Louisiana State Penitentiary’s self-help programs. While imprisoned, he has completed substance abuse treatment and is drug free; he also participates in faith-based programs and reads the Bible daily. He says that prison has been “a living hell,” and after witnessing the stabbing of another prisoner, he says, “I was in shock by realizing that I really don’t belong here.”
Click here to view original ACLU article (Page 122).
LUIS VIERA
Viera was a passenger in a vehicle driven by another Latino man when they were stopped by a Delaware state police officer in September 1987 for driving 62 miles per hour, seven miles over the speed limit, on Interstate 95.
The officer searched the car and found two packages of cocaine hidden in the backseat; Viera was arrested for possession with intent to distribute two kilos of cocaine and released on bail. He says his attorney informed him that he would not receive more than a seven-year sentence and advised him to plead guilty to the state charges; instead, he was sentenced to 15 years after pleading guilty.
Two months after sentencing, based in part on the same drugs seized in the Delaware state case, Viera was indicted with 10 others on federal drug conspiracy charges. Although the district court ruled that the search of the car was unconstitutional in Viera’s case, the appellate court overruled that decision and allowed the drugs seized on the interstate to be used against Viera at trial. He was convicted of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute crack and powder cocaine, largely due to the testimony of co-defendants who received sentence reductions and unindicted co-conspirators who received immunity in exchange for their assistance. At trial, Viera was found to have been a member of a drug distribution operation that sold large quantities of crack and powder cocaine out of Gainesville, Florida. He was found to have supplied cocaine to several of his co-conspirators. Because of the large drug quantities involved, and also because he was an organizer of the conspiracy and carried two firearms, Viera was sentenced to LWOP at age 30. His only prior conviction was the related Delaware state conviction.
Viera is now 54 and has served 24 years in prison. He says of his sentence, “When I look in the mirror, I see that I get older, but at the same time, time stops. I can’t achieve anything or help my family.” He adds, “I lost my whole youth in prison, but I live with the hope of walking out of prison one day.” Viera remains close to his 89-year-old Cuban-born mother and says that the worst aspect of his imprisonment is not being able to help her. Prior to his incarceration, he worked with his mother selling and delivering silk flowers and teaching floral arranging to senior citizens. He dropped out of school in the ninth grade to work and help his mother with living expenses. While imprisoned, he has earned his GED and held the same prison job for more than 20 years.
Click here to view original ACLU article (Page 62).
Luis Viera