Judge's Error Causes Inmate To Serve 10 Years Too Many

Judge's Error Causes Inmate To Serve 10 Years Too Many

TAMPA, Fla. -- A man who spent 10 years too many behind bars because of a judge's sentencing error walked free Friday into the arms of his family.

Leonard Brown, 47, spent more than half his life behind bars after a judge wrongly sentenced him to 99 years on a robbery conviction that should have brought him a 15-year term instead.

A fellow inmate who once worked for a law firm discovered the error in Brown's file last year and helped him get it into court.

"I thank my family for sticking by me all these years, especially my mom," Brown said.

Brown was charged in two robberies in 1981, and charges were eventually filed to indicate that he was unarmed.

He later was charged with violating his probation and found himself in back in court, facing Circuit Judge Harry Lee Coe the Third.

Coe, known for dishing out tough sentences, gave Brown 30 years in prison for attempted murder, 15 years for aggravated battery, five years for attempted robbery -- and 99 years for armed robbery.

The problem was Brown pleaded to robbery -- not armed robbery -- which made the 99-year sentence illegal.