Earlier: Criminal Justice Reform: Black Male Released Early Cuts Out White Woman's Heart And Eats It.

The AP story on cannibal Lawrence Paul Anderson says simply that he "had been sentenced in 2017 to 20 years in prison for probation violations on a drug case," which is generally code for "victim of mass incarceration". But seriously, they don't sentence you to 20 years for failing to update your address, nor for spitting on the sidewalk.

A local news story from 12 days ago makes it clear that Lawrence Paul Anderson was a bad person who had done a lot of bad things before he cut out a white woman's heart and killed his uncle and a 4-year old girl.

Why a Chickasha triple murder suspect got out of prison for past crimes after just 3 years, by Nolan Clay, February 12, 2021

CHICKASHA — Convicted cocaine dealer Lawrence Paul Anderson was ordered back to prison in 2017 for 20 more years after being caught with a gun and using drugs.

Anderson “remains a threat to both society and himself,” his probation and parole officer reported at the time.

He got out Jan. 18, after a little more than three years behind bars.

On Tuesday, he killed his uncle and a 4-year-old and attacked his aunt at their home in Chickasha, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation reported.

He since has admitted to also killing a neighbor, The Oklahoman has learned.[Emphases added throughout]

That must have been before the details of Andrea Blankenship's death came out.

Anderson was first sentenced to prison in Oklahoma in 2006 for four years for attacking his girlfriend, pointing a gun at her and possession of crack cocaine with the intent to distribute, records show. He was out in less than two years.

He went back to prison in 2012 to serve a 15-year sentence for selling crack cocaine near an elementary school in Chickasha. He also was ordered to spend 20 years on probation after his release. He was out in less than five years and four months.

He was sent back to prison in December 2017 to serve 20 more years when a judge both revoked his probation in full and sentenced him for new crimes.

His probation violations included testing positive for PCP and cocaine use. His new crimes involved having a gun and sneaking PCP into jail.

“He should serve his whole sentence,” prosecutors told the Pardon and Parole Board in a 2017 report.

[District Attorney] Hicks questioned Thursday if his office was even properly notified last year of Anderson’s commutation request.

“We're looking into that right now,” he said.

He also pointed out his office already had clearly said Anderson should serve the entire time.

“How many times do we have to object?" he said.

“I don't know why it is the parole board and everybody else thinks we ought to have to object to these things every step of the way. I mean we do our job and get them into prison. And then we tell them, ‘This is somebody that's really bad and they need to stay there.’ But that’s not good enough.

“We shouldn’t have to do anything else to keep them in prison. We shouldn’t have to do anything else.”

The point of probation and parole laws is that if someone is likely to behave, you can let them out. However, if the probation and parole is violated, the person is already sentenced to jail, so they can be sent back.

The reason crack cocaine and PCP are taken so seriously by the courts is that these drugs don’t only cause harm to the users, they make them violent. It’s not at all unlikely that Anderson’s own crimes were fueled by drug-induced psychosis. These were serious crimes, and he should have been kept in jail.

He now knows that himself, by the way. The Associated Press reported that at his bail hearing, he said: “I don’t want no bail, your honor. I don’t want no bail.”

So why was he released? Well, as I said in my earlier post, it's because of George Floydism, and it happened with the aid of Republican Governor of Oklahoma, Kevin Stitt.

For more on Governor Stitt's contributions to  public safety, see

A Republican Crusader Takes on Oklahoma’s Prison Machine

In the state that locks up more of its citizens than any other, a former politician is using the ballot box—and some surprising alliances—to nudge his own party toward change.

By Bret Schulte, Politico, April 23, 2020

Contact Kevin Stitt. here.