MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Mack Kirby was a habitual offender serving life in prison without parole until the Alabama Supreme Court issued a landmark decision that gave him a second chance. Now he has changed his life so much that the state parole board awarded him a pardon Wednesday.
“He was a drain on Alabama’s resources. Now he’s a contributing member of society,” his attorney, Johnny Amari, told the board.
“Everybody who has touched this case agrees with you,” parole board member Robert Longshore said before the board’s unanimous decision.
Kirby, 67, stood before the parole board Wednesday in a sports shirt and casual slacks, a far cry from the prison whites that were his uniform for many years.
A state Supreme Court decision helped him get out of prison in late 2004. Now, he lives on a small farm in Pisgah, operates a one-truck trucking business, and runs a small trailer park.
“I try to be a good neighbor. I keep a clean place and I keep the yard mowed,” Kirby said.
His life wasn’t always so orderly.
He had two moonshine offenses and an arson conviction for burning a tool shed when he was found guilty of trafficking in marijuana in 1990. As a four-time loser convicted of a major drug felony, Alabama’s habitual offender law required the judge to sentence him to life in prison without parole.
In 2000, when state prisons were filled beyond capacity, the Legislature changed the habitual offender law to give judges the option of sentencing nonviolent habitual offenders to prison with the possibility of parole. The Legislature decided a year later to make the change retroactive, which would allow judges to reconsider their previous sentences of life without parole.
Kirby, who had never injured anyone with his crimes, applied for a change in his sentence. The state attorney general fought applying the law retroactively. Kirby lost at the trial court and appeals court levels, but the Alabama Supreme Court ruled in his favor in a precedent-setting decision in 2004. That decision made Kirby the first to have his sentenced reviewed and allowed judges to reconsider an estimated 300 sentences of other inmates.
Kirby’s judge quickly changed his sentence to make him eligible for parole, and the parole board granted him a parole in late 2004. Kirby returned home to re-establish his life with the help of his siblings.
Meanwhile, his name was etched in state legal records. A request to change a sentence of life without parole is now known as a “Kirby motion,” Amari said.
Bryan Stevenson, director of the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, represented Kirby in his legal appeals and cites Kirby’s case as more than a personal success story.
“It’s a success story for Alabama because we would have been spending $15,000 to $20,000 a year to keep him incarcerated,” Stevenson said.
Kirby’s pardon ends his parole supervision and allows him to register to vote like other Alabamians. For Kirby, that’s one of the most exciting things about his second chance at life.
“I live right across the street from the community center where they vote, and I’ve always wanted to vote,” he said.
State and Nation
Alabama prison lifer gets pardon after turnaround
- State and Nation
-
-
Police officer charged in arson seeks lower bond
A Birmingham police officer charged with arson is asking a judge to lower his bond.
-
ACLU lawsuit to challenge Ill. gay marriage ban
More than two dozen gay and lesbian couples in Illinois plan to file lawsuits Wednesday arguing that it's unconstitutional for the state to deny them the right to marry, a move advocates hope will lead to legalized same-sex marriage in Illinois.
-
FBI: Bones in Opelika from malnourished child
The FBI has determined that skeletal remains found in Opelika were from a malnourished little girl.
-
A rare gain for the Dow on hopes for China growth
Facebook plunged 10 percent to $28.84, shaving $25 billion off from the company's market value in its first seven days of trading.
- Man falls to death from crane in Dallas standoff
-
Searchers recover body of man who drowned in lake
Search crews have recovered the body of an Illinois man who jumped into an Alabama lake and never resurfaced.
-
Dog found skinned, barely alive in Chilton County
Delana Dunnaway of Montevallo said her dog was found barely alive and had to be euthanized.
-
Man in crane at Texas college says he's armed
Police say the man climbed the 150-foot crane late Monday morning.
-
Obama to honor fallen troops on Memorial Day
The president was to participate in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, and then commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
-
Dragon arrives at space station in historic first
Astronauts Donald Pettit and Andre Kuipers used the space station's robot arm to snare the Dragon after a few hours of extra maneuvering.
- More State and Nation Headlines
-
Police officer charged in arson seeks lower bond
No Limits for Disabled Hunters at Mich. Base
Victim Identified in Fla. Face-chewing Attack
Radioactive Bluefin Tuna Crossed the Pacific
90 Guns Seized, Dozens Arrested in Oakland
Raw Video: Hail Storm Batters Oklahoma City
6-Year-Old Going to National Spelling Bee
California's Foie Gras Ban About to Begin
Video Essay: Funky Winkerbean Comic Turns 40
Hurricane Andrew Remembered, 20 Years Later
Judge's Ruling Halts Tenn. Mosque Construction
Romney in Las Vegas on Texas Primary Day
Sister Says She Reported Brother in Patz Killing
Even Fla. Police Shocked by Face-Mauling Attack
Angry Birds Spreading Their Wings
