(AJC) — Fulton County Judge Constance Russell stacked life sentence after life sentence after life sentence on rapist Marvin Martin three months ago, ensuring that the 33-year-old truck driver will never be free. He will have to serve 360 years in prison before he can even be considered for parole. Martin’s is an impossible sentence. But it is indicative of the path some judges are now taking, suggesting a lack of trust that their sentences will mean anything if prison crowding continues or if the state’s finances force early releases. Or if the presently conservative Pardons and Paroles Board shifts to more liberal stance on crime and punishment. They fear a repeat of the late 1980s and early 1990s, when Georgia had to open prison doors to avoid a lawsuit. Other states are already facing the same option.
