Ten years ago, LaQuan Hayes was mistakenly sentenced to life in prison. This year, he’s finally getting another day in court to correct the error and go home.
His story began in 1989, when he was 18 years old. His cousin was in the Navy, stationed in San Diego. They went out drinking on a Friday night, and Hayes, drunk, drove his cousin around the city. He began weaving on the road. When the police tried to stop him, a high-speed chase ensued. The car flipped and his cousin was killed.
Hayes was charged with vehicular manslaughter causing “great bodily injury”, a phrase that implies malice and makes the offense a “strike” under the Three Strikes law. Hayes signed a plea agreement that struck “great bodily injury” from the charges, and was sentenced to four years in prison.
“I was an 18-year old naïve youngster, never in trouble, living with relatives, employed by Price Club, and being locked up for the first time,” Hayes recalled. “While I was in county jail, I was told that if I was to survive in prison, I had to be either homosexual or a gang member. I knew that I wasn’t gay, so I chose gang life, and joined a San Diego gang. I was heavily influenced by gang life in prison.”
After getting out of prison, Hayes could not get his life back together. The negative influences from prison and gangs ultimately led him to justify criminal thinking. He returned to prison with a 14-year sentence for car jacking and two counts of robbery.
The shock and intensity of returning to prison led him to religion. “I converted from gangsterism to Christianity,” Hayes said.
After getting out of prison again, in 2001, his newfound religion helped him settle down. He moved in with family and found a job at a Christian school. But he wasn’t financially satisfied. The attempt to improve his financial situation was a disaster. When he tried to go back to his old job, it was already filled. Unemployed, broke, and without a support group, he began drinking excessively. Eventually he was arrested for driving under the influence – a violation of his parole.
He was sent back to prison for one year. But nine months into the sentence, he was taken back to court, a consequence of the convoluted eccentricities of California’s Three Strikes Law.
The prosecutor was counting his DUI as his “third strike”. The other two strikes were the carjacking and robberies, and the vehicular manslaughter charge from 1989, which the judge ruled was a serious felony that involved “great bodily injury.” This was a mistake because the charge “great bodily injury” was struck from the record after Hayes’ plea agreement. The judge sentenced him to life.
Last year, after ten years in prison, Hayes came across a case that was strikingly similar to his. In Wilson v. Knowles, the defendant had a prior conviction for vehicular manslaughter that was turned into a “strike” when a judge retroactively found “great bodily injury.” The federal appeals court ruled that a judge cannot make such a finding and overturned the sentence.
Hayes immediately filed an appeal, lining up the facts of his case with those in Wilson v Knowles. When the judge read the case, he noticed that “great bodily injury” had been struck from the record and ruled that Hayes should never have been subjected to Three Strikes in the first place.
Hayes credits his education with the Prison University Project in helping his new opportunity. “I believe had it not been for the educational opportunity that I received from Patten University,” he said, “I would not have had the ability to closely examine my case and put all of the information on paper in a manner that allowed the judge to see my case the way it is.”
Hayes is now awaiting his court appearance to earn his freedom. Hayes said that his wish is to stay sober, to attend church, and to write about his experiences through his magazine idea, The Thug Reformer, designed to educate youngsters teetering on the edge of peer pressure and gangs.
