May 6, 2011

New Orleans Man Gets Life Sentence For Marijuana Convictions

May 6, 2011
No Victim No Crime

Cornell Hood II was sentenced Thursday in Covington, LA as a repeat offender following his 4th conviction on a charge of attempting to possess and distribute marijuana.

According to The Daily Comet, Hood moved from New Orleans after he pleaded guilty in 2009 to two marijuana-related charges and received five years of probation.

In 2005, he received his first strike – and five years of probation – after pleading guilty in New Orleans to possessing and intending to distribute marijuana.

Drug offenders in Louisiana are subject to life imprisonment after being convicted three or more times of a crime that carries a maximum sentence exceeding 10 years, even if its is a non violent crime.

Authorities said Hood’s probation officer found about two pounds of marijuana during a routine visit to Hood’s Slidell-area home on Sept. 27. Prosecutors charged him with possession with intent to distribute marijuana.

At Hood’s one-day trial, the state’s evidence included a $1,600 in cash, digital scale and about a dozen bags that had contained marijuana before being seized from the house. Deputies also found a student-loan application with Hood’s name on it inside of a night stand.

A jury deliberated for less than two hours and convicted Hood of a reduced charge, which usually carries no more than 15 years’ imprisonment. But Assistant District Attorney Nick Noriea Jr. then used Hood’s past convictions on Thursday to argue that he was a career criminal.

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