JACKSON, Miss. (AP)—A man handed an illegal prison sentence that was years longer than the maximum penalty for his crime has been granted clemency by Mississippi’s governor, weeks after the man’s brother received clemency for a similar sentence.
Gov. Tate Reeves announced Dec. 31 that he was granting clemency to Maurice Taylor after ordering the man’s brother, Marcus Taylor, to be freed earlier in December.
In February 2015, both brothers accepted plea bargains and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to sell hydrocodone acetaminophen, a Schedule III substance. Combinations of hydrocodone and acetaminophen are used to treat pain severe enough to require opioid treatment when other pain medicine does not work or cannot be taken, according to the Mayo Clinic.
At the time of the brothers’ sentencing, the maximum penalty for conspiracy to sell a Schedule III substance was five years. Yet Maurice Taylor was sentenced to 20 years in prison with five years suspended, and Marcus Taylor to 15 years.
“Like his brother, Maurice Taylor received a sentence more than three times longer than allowed under Mississippi law,” Reeves wrote in his announcement. “When justice is denied to even one Mississippian, it is denied to us all.”
In May, the Mississippi Court of Appeals had ruled that Marcus Taylor’s sentence was illegal, but did not commute his sentence because Taylor had missed the deadline to apply for post-conviction relief. After rehearing that case in November, the court reversed course and ordered his release.
In Wednesday’s order, Reeves wrote that Maurice Taylor’s post-conviction counsel contacted his office for the first time a few weeks ago, providing legal documents in his case. Maurice Taylor must be released within five days, according to Reeves’ order.
“This correction should have happened decades ago,” the Mississippi Impact Coalition, which advocates for criminal justice reform, said in a social media post Dec. 31. “It shouldn’t have taken relentless advocacy, public pressure, and the glaring contrast of one twin free while the other remained incarcerated to expose this injustice.”
The Associated Press was not immediately able to identify and contact Maurice Taylor’s post-conviction counsel.
The brothers are the only people to receive clemency from Reeves.