Scott’s statement on denial of clemency in ‘warning shot’ case – The Buzz of the Tampa Bay Times

Gov. Rick Scott has issued a brief statement on his decision to deny mercy for a Polk County man serving 20 years for firing a warning shot in his home, but it sheds little new light on why Orville “Lee” Wollard, 60, must stay in prison until 2028.

Wollard fired a single shot, claiming his daughter’s boyfriend was being abusive and making threats against his family. After he rejected a plea deal for five years of probation and no prison time, he was convicted of aggravated assault with a firearm, a crime that in 2008 carried a minimum mandatory 20-year prison term under Florida’s 10-20-Life law. Several national groups have cited Wollard’s case as a symbol of why minimum mandatory sentences are wrong, but the prosecutor in the case, Jerry Hill, urged Scott not to set Wollard free

http://floridafaf.org/scotts-statement-on-denial-of-clemency-in-warning-shot-case-the-buzz-of-the-tampa-bay-times/