In the eyes of the state of Alabama, parolee Jerry Lett did everything right.
Yet Lett was due to turn himself in to law enforcement on Friday, his 53rd birthday, after the state parole board voided his 2020 early parole grant.
An eleventh hour reprieve out of a local Montgomery court granted Lett more time as his lawyers fight what they say is an unconstitutional parole revocation based on the state’s own error.
State officials agree Lett, a combat veteran sentenced in 2018 on a cocaine trafficking charge, had fully complied with parole conditions since his release from prison last fall. But the parole bureau said it erred in allowing Lett an early parole hearing in September 2020.