Inmate May Win Freedom

OFFICIAL SAYS MAN CONVICTED IN ERROR

Charles J. Matthews has served 21 months of an eight-and-a-half year
sentence in federal prison after pleading guilty to being a felon with
a firearm.

But he may be getting out after a federal magistrate concluded this
week Matthews shouldn't have been in prison in the first place.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Christine Noland is recommending that Matthews,
28, be released from federal prison in Beaumont, Texas, and his guilty
plea overturned.

If U.S. District Judge Ralph Tyson approves of Noland's report,
Matthews will be turned loose because, under a since-repealed state
law, he's technically not a felon, even though he pleaded guilty to
cocaine possession in 1995.

In a motion filed in Matthews' case, Assistant U.S. Attorney James
Stanley Lemelle agreed that Matthews conviction should be overturned.

U.S. Attorney David Dugas said his office confirmed the state
conviction was overturned.

"We've indicated to the court that we have no objection to the
dismissal," Dugas said.

Matthews was in prison Friday and could not be reached for
comment.

Matthews' attorney, James Manasseh, did not return phone calls seeking
comment.

Matthews' strange legal saga started with an arrest in 1995 for
possession of cocaine.

Matthews, of Baton Rouge, pleaded guilty in 19th Judicial District
Court in January 1996 to that charge in a deal with state
prosecutors.

The law that was in effect at the time of the arrest allowed
then-state District Judge Bob Downing to place Matthews on probation
for a year, then review the case and dismiss the charge at the end of
the probation period because Matthews was a first-time offender.

The arrest, guilty plea and dismissal would all still appear on
Matthews' record, but the conviction couldn't be held against him in
future proceedings.

In January 1997, Downing ordered the charge and conviction dismissed,
effectively wiping Matthews' record clean.

However, the Legislature repealed this particular sentencing law in
the 1995 session, but because Matthews was charged while those laws
were still in effect, they still applied to him, Noland wrote in a
report issued Wednesday.

That meant that technically, Matthews could not be a felon on that
cocaine possession charge because Downing - on Jan. 30, 1997 - had
wiped Matthews' record clean.

A federal grand jury charged Matthews, also known as "Nikey Matthews,"
in July 1999 with being a felon in possession of a firearm because he
had a 9-mm pistol. Prosecutors gave the grand jury information about
the arrest and guilty plea but not about Matthews' record being wiped
clean.

Matthews then pleaded guilty in September 1999 to being a felon in
possession of a firearm and was sentenced in March 2000 to 102 months
in federal prison.

The pre-sentence report, which is used by a judge to calculate the
length of prison time, noted that the state court conviction had been
dismissed in January 1997 under the terms of the repealed law.

But that information was missed by Matthews, his attorney and
prosecutors.

"Undoubtedly all involved in this case, including the defendant, were
unaware that the defendant's conviction was set aside or the effect of
(the law)," Lemelle wrote.

Matthews started fighting to have his guilty plea overturned earlier
this year, filing a motion and state court records that showed that
the conviction was dismissed and could not be held against him.

"Thus, as of January 1997, when the Louisiana court dismissed
Matthews' case, there was no conviction ... of guilt on the charge of
possession of cocaine," Noland wrote. So because of that, he could not
have been a felon.

If Tyson doesn't approve Noland's recommendation, Matthews is
scheduled to be released from federal prison July 21, 2007, according
to the federal Bureau of Prisons.

While Noland's report provides some good news for Matthews, he isn't
necessarily in the clear.

Federal prosecutors in Baton Rouge have filed a criminal complaint for
possession of cocaine with intent to distribute.

That case is still pending, and Matthews could remain in federal
custody until the charge is resolved, Dugas said Friday.