“He’s just a changed human being,” Sopp said. If he is released, the man who leaves prison will little resemble the boy who entered it all those years ago. Now John is petitioning the court to resentence him, potentially to time served. Sopp describes him as extremely remorseful. He’s also reflected a lot on the twists of fate and choices that put him in a cell, potentially for the rest of his life. He’s spent that time bettering himself and his peers, educationally and spiritually, Sopp says. He’s been in prison for nearly 30 years, well over half his life. Nevertheless, he received two consecutive life sentences for felony murder and robbery. John, the youngest, didn’t even have a gun, nor was he accused of the killing, Sopp says. ► JJIE Resource Hub | Juvenile Indigent Defense

For more information on Juvenile Indigent Defense, go to The man turned out to be armed one of John’s co-conspirators was shot and killed. One day in the mid-1990s, he introduced John, then 17, to a group of young men. A man became something of a street mentor to him, Sopp said. “Our client tried to stand in front of his youngest siblings to protect them from the beatings.” “He made the male children undress in a line while he beat them with a wooden 2-by-4 plank, water hose, extension cord and coat hangers. “The mother’s boyfriend ritually abused ,” said Teri Sopp, John’s attorney, an assistant public defender.

John (a pseudonym) had lived in two dozen homes by the time he moved out. Born in the 1970s, John’s childhood was characterized by instability, neglect and abuse. This was the world in which John grew up. Some activists would say this continues to present day. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.JACKSONVILLE, Florida - In the decades after the civil rights era, Black communities in Jacksonville remained disproportionately impoverished, blighted and policed.

First lady Casey DeSantis, however, was seen by news media pushing children in a swing while the man was extracted.Ĭopyright 2020 The Associated Press. Ron DeSantis was in Fort Lauderdale on Friday morning for a coronavirus news conference. They demanded that inmates in Florida prisons and jails be released to stop the spread of coronavirus behind bars. This week, prisoner rights advocates in a caravan of about 20 vehicles circled the Capitol complex and the Department of Corrections’ headquarters, chanting and shouting through megaphones. Police said Mazurek will be charged with restricting or obstructing access without violence and was given a traffic ticket for blocking the roadway. That included jackhammers and other equipment. “He refused to let go so we ended up having to use heavy equipment” to extract him, Bradshaw said. It wasn't easy getting Mazurek out, police said.

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