Beebe set to cut 240-year prison sentence

Gov. Mike Beebe has announced his intention to shorten the 240-year sentence of a man who twice fled from authorities in Jackson County before being arrested on methamphetamineand firearm-related charges.

The commutation would shorten Larry Brothers’ sentence to 40 years, making him eligible for parole in 2021. Without the commutation, Brothers would be eligible for parole in 2081.

Jackson County Sheriff David Lucas wrote to the Parole Board that he “would absolutely object” to a commutation for Brothers.

If Beebe follows through with the commutation, it will take effect after a 30-day public notice period. It would be the governor’s third since taking office in 2007.

Beebe spokesman Matt DeCample said Brothers’ 2001 sentence, imposed by Circuit Judge Harold Erwin, included six 40-year terms that the judge ordered to run back to back.

The commutation would make the sentences run at the same time.

The governor felt the original sentence was excessive for an offender with no felonies, DeCample said.

“You’re looking at a sentence that exceeds what you see for a lot of homicides,” DeCample said.

“Just based on the specifics of the case and testimony from friends and family, he felt that changing that sentence to one of concurrent time instead of consecutive time was a move that was fair and still delivered justice.”

Erwin declined to comment Tuesday on Beebe’s announcement.

According to Brothers’ commutation application, Brothers first ran from authorities in July 2000, after the police stopped his vehicle.

Brothers, now 52, wrote that he fled before he could be arrested, leaving behind a gun, drugs and drug paraphernalia.

Authorities also found a clandestine lab in “another location,” Brothers wrote.

On Nov. 16, 2000, Brothers again fled from authorities after he was spotted by members of a drug task force near Swifton, Arkansas Department of Correction spokesman Shea Wilson said.

According to a summary of the offense in the department’s records, Brothers led officers on a chase at speeds of more than 100 mph, passing a vehicle on the shoulder, before hitting a drug task force vehicle and crashing in a ditch.

Brothers was carrying a loaded .45-caliber pistol and a plastic bag containing less than an ounce of methamphetamine, Wilson said.

Inside the vehicle, Wilson said, officers found a stolen 12-gauge shotgun, a working methamphetamine lab and a pistol equipped with a silencer and loaded with 30 rounds of .22-caliber ammunition.

Brothers said in his commutation application that he pleaded guilty to all the charges against him.

He said he had been a productive member of society until 1998, when he became addicted to methamphetamine.

In prison, he wrote, he completed a substance-abuse program and became a counselor in the program more than 10 years ago.

“I have successfully passed every drug test the ADC has given me,” Brothers wrote. “I give weekly substance abuse lectures, teach substance abuse classes and mentor program clients.”

The Parole Board in March voted 5-0 to recommend that Beebe commute Brothers’ sentence to make him immediately eligible for parole.

Board Chairman John Felts, who did not participate in the vote, said he didn’t have an opinion about Beebe’s decision. He added, however, “I think Mr. Brothers should be pleased that his transfer eligibility date is no longer in 2081 but in a much more reasonable amount of time.”

The sheriff in August 2011 wrote that he would “concur with the considerations” of the Parole Board on Brothers’ commutation request. After the board made its recommendation, however, Lucas wrote that he would “absolutely object” to the commutation.

Lucas declined to comment Tuesday on Beebe’s announcement. Prosecuting Attorney Henry Boyce, who took office in 2002, said he wasn’t familiar with the case and did not have an opinion on the commutation.

Stewart Lambert, prosecuting attorney from 1999-2002, didn’t return a call seeking comment Tuesday.

Beebe’s first commutation, in 2007, went to Robbie Brooks, who was convicted in 2000 of kidnapping a man at a Nashville hotel, robbing him and leaving him duct-taped to a chair for several hours.

Beebe has said Brooks, who is black, was punished more severely than a white co-defendant. He looked into the allegations at the request of a friend and former state Senate colleague, Jim Hill of Nashville.

The commutation made Brooks immediately eligible for parole, and he was released about a month later.

In 2011, Beebe granted a commutation to Doug Ray King, who was sentenced in Arkansas County to 120 years on drug and firearm charges, including manufacturing methamphetamine.

The commutation shortened King’s sentence to 40 years, making him eligible for parole in 2020.

Beebe also has granted more than 500 pardons to offenders who have completed their sentences, DeCample said.