Forgotten Prison Sentence

[houstondallas]

Curious everyones thoughts on this. Ill give the cliffnotes here.

In 2000, this guy, Cornealious Anderson, was convicted of robbing a Burger King manager with a friend and sentenced to 13 years in Missouri Corrections. After the conviction, his attorney filed an appeal and Cornealious was released on bond. Several weeks later at a hearing, his attorney was filing a motion related to the appeal. The judge wanted him back in jail at this time and was immediately told by the prosecutor that Cornealious was in fact already in prison. His lawyer said no hes out on bond, but was quickly told again no hes in prison.

So after leaving the hearing, his attorney called Cornealious and determined was in fact not in prison but out on "bond". His attorney told him to prepare to be picked up soon once they figure it out. Weeks, months and years went by and there was never a warrant issued. Cornealious was stopped on traffic stops and never was anyone aware he was supposed to be in prison.

During the next 13 years, he started his own business, got married and had kids. No interactions with the law at all and was a model citizen.

It wasn't until the prison system was preparing to release him 13 years later that it was discovered and US Marshalls stormed his door to arrest him. Currently he is in Missouri Prison and is not scheduled to be released until 2026.


Curious to know what everyone thinks on this. Im personally unsure. On one side, he has accomplished the main purpose of prison which is rehabilitation. Hes established himself as a model citizen so I dont see a need for the tax payers to pay to house and feed him for 13 years to accomplish very little. On the other side, he did get convicted and commit the crime so that cant simply be forgotten either.


Does he owe the state thirteen years? And should the system take into account the fact that he has been a good citizen who has turned his life around?

[houstondallas]

http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/dailyrft/2014/02/cornealious_mike_anderson_burger_king_robbery_this_american_life.php

Back in September, Riverfront Times published a feature story titled "The (Extremely) Long (and Sometimes Forgetful) Arm of the Law." It told the story of Cornealious Michael Anderson, or Mike, as he's known to friends and family. Anderson was convicted in 2000 of armed robbery and sentenced to thirteen years in prison. He appealed several times, and during that process he posted bond and went home. When his appeals ultimately failed, law enforcement should have re-arrested him and taken him to prison to serve his sentence. But for reasons that are still unclear, that didn't happen. Anderson remained free.

In that time he didn't change his name, move away or in any other way evade capture -- there was simply no one looking for him. Instead he got married, became a father of four, a homeowner and a master carpenter living in a home he built himself in Webster Groves.

A version of the story airs this weekend on the national radio show This American Life. What follows is an epilogue of sorts ahead of the broadcast: Everything we've learned about Anderson's case since our story was published in September, including what became of the victim of the 1999 robbery.

If you missed the feature, click here to read it and catch up on the details. When the story left off, Anderson was at Fulton Reception and Diagnostic, a penitentiary about two hours west of St. Louis. The facility is like a way station for prisoners entering the Missouri correctional system -- after an intake process that can take several weeks or months, inmates are assigned a permanent prison "home." When we last spoke to Anderson, he'd been at Fulton about two months. He didn't have an attorney, nor was it certain whether he had any legal recourse.

Since then Anderson's family hired Patrick Michael Megaro, a Florida-based attorney who specializes in post-conviction appeals.

fulton_diagnostic_prison.jpg
Jessica Lussenhop
Fulton Reception and Diagnostic Center in Fulton, Missouri.

"It's still kind of unclear to me how he fell through the cracks," says Megaro. "I don't think any of it is attributable to him at all. I think what happened is there was a clerical error, and the Missouri Department of Corrections figured they had a prisoner in their custody. Nobody double-checked, and nobody paid attention to the case after he'd gone through all of his appeals."

In November the Missouri Department of Corrections moved Anderson to a permanent prison -- Southeast Correctional Center, about two and a half hours south of St. Louis. On December 30, 2013, Megaro filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus with the warden of Southeast Correctional, challenging the state of Missouri's right to hold Anderson. The petition makes two arguments -- first, that making Anderson serve his sentence thirteen years after the fact is a violation of due process, and second, taking him away from the productive life he was able to make for himself in those ensuing years constitutes cruel and unusual punishment:

Petitioner was left alone by the State of Missouri for 13 years and led to believe that the State had given up on execution of the judgment. To require this man to now begin serving a sentence in 2013 that should have been completed in 2013 is in essence to double his sentence. However, it was particularly cruel and unusual to allow him to believe that the State had given him reprieve to one day, out of the blue, knock down his door and take his entire life away 13 years after the fact...To call this situation unusual is an understatement. The very nature of doubling a man's sentence because of the State's failure to act and gross negligence, to give this man hope because of the State's utter and complete failure to act, defines cruelty. As a result, this Court should grant this petition.

Because the petition is filed against the warden of the prison, the Missouri Department of Corrections is represented by Attorney General Chris Koster. A spokeswoman for Koster declined to comment on pending litigation, and right now the petition is before a judge in Mississippi County. There are no hearings currently scheduled.

If the judge denies Anderson's petition, Megaro says he plans to appeal.

"This is not going to be a cakewalk by any stretch of the imagination. We're going to be creating new law in the state of Missouri," says Megaro. "This is going to be a precedent-setting case. Now, I doubt that this scenario is bound to repeat itself...as far as I can tell this has never been reported in the state in Missouri and not reported much throughout the country -- the history of the country."

[GT Fanatic]

I think the case should be thrown out and he be allowed to walk. He showed he can work for a living and has grown up since that mistake. Plus he has kids to support now. They will be sharing a cell with their dad before he gets out in another 13 years.

[GE]

I remember hearing about this. An all around very interesting story, and sucks for everyone involved. Here's the interview that This American Life did with Mike, the victim, and briefly the new prosecutor.

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/518/except-for-that-one-thing?act=4#play

[Baron Von Crowder]

I think that they will be able to get him out, but it may take a while.

My dad got picked up for having a pistol in his truck back in the late 90's. He was sentenced to probation, and was going to his monthly meetings, paying the fines, etc. I dont know the whole story, but I got a call that I had to come pick him up from his probation officer's office one day. That was the last time he ever went back, and they issued a warrant for his arrest.

Long story short, 13 years later, he still had that warrant. He had never even been pulled over on a traffic stop in over a decade. He was trying to get all of his "crap" cleaned up, so we chatted with an attorney about this problem. One court hearing, he had to pay a grand or two in fee's that they would have collected from him, and he walked away. The attorney used a term that I dont remember what it was, but meant he had served his sentence by being a perfect model citizen, or something like that.

[talisman]

I'm having a hard time wanting him to go to prison after the life he has led. I would be interested to know the opinion of the person he robbed, however.

[jw33]

White bitch, give me some chon chon.

[2011GT]

Should've turned himself in 13 years ago.

[IHaveAMustang]

I like what houston said, the whole purpose of the prison system is to rehabilitate crooks into citizens.

I think just the little time in jail and the subsequent "This is my second chance" fallacy has made this man into a citizen again.

Let it be.

[Rick Modena]

White bitch, give me some chon chon.

lol.

[TeeShock]

How the fuck does a prisoner go unaccounted for for 13 years

[GE]

I'm having a hard time wanting him to go to prison after the life he has led. I would be interested to know the opinion of the person he robbed, however.

The sound byte I posted has the interview of the person he robbed. He thinks the guy should be set free.

[talisman]

I like what houston said, the whole purpose of the prison system is to rehabilitate crooks into citizens.

I think just the little time in jail and the subsequent "This is my second chance" fallacy has made this man into a citizen again.

Let it be.

Solid post.

The sound byte I posted has the interview of the person he robbed. He thinks the guy should be set free.

Then there it is.

[CJ-95GT]

Is there not a statute of limitations for robbery?

[Big A]

Is there not a statute of limitations for robbery?

The statute of limitations applies to being tried and/or convicted of a crime, and doesn't apply to the sentence once convicted.