The Virginian-Pilot
©
NORFOLK
A man who was sentenced to more than five life terms for robbery charges earlier this year will now serve a fraction of that time - 33 years - after a judge gave him credit for cooperating with prosecutors.
Marqui L. Clardy, 25, was sentenced in February to five life terms plus 53 years for robbery, gun and conspiracy charges. During his trial, prosecutor Asha Pandya presented evidence that Clardy used Craigslist.org, a Web site for classified ads, to lure his victims and then robbed them at gunpoint of their items.
The circuit judge who sentenced Clardy, Norman A. Thomas, cited Clardy's actions during and after the crimes in imposing the five life terms. The victims were robbed near a college campus and in their homes. Clardy contacted the victims after the robberies threatening to return and after his arrest tried to keep them from coming to court.
Clardy asked Thomas to reconsider the sentence in July, a request that was denied.
But in September, Pandya, the prosecutor, asked Thomas to reconsider. In her motion, Pandya said Clardy had agreed to testify against his co-defendant, Phillip Harris, and came to court twice to testify. Harris pleaded guilty after the start of his trial in August when Pandya announced that Clardy would testify.
Harris was sentenced last month to serve 22 years, with another 108 years suspended.
On Friday, Thomas suspended the five life terms of Clardy's sentence, along with 20 years of the remaining time, said commonwealth's attorney's spokeswoman Amanda Howie. That left Clardy with a 33-year sentence. He must remain on good behavior for the rest of his life, pay restitution to his victims and never again use a computer to buy or sell anything.
Clardy declined to comment on Friday, saying he wanted to talk to his lawyer first. His lawyer, Carl LaMondue, said Clardy and his family were "relieved he would have a chance of a life outside of prison" once his term has been served.
"He's very relieved there's a light at the end of the tunnel," LaMondue said.
Michelle Washington, (757) 446-2287, michelle.washington@pilotonline.com
Delicious
Digg
Reddit
Facebook
Twitter
Google
Yahoo
I'm so glad his family is
I'm so glad his family is happy he'll be paroled one day and able to resume a normal lifestyle. He HAD his chance at a normal lifestyle and he threw it away. Why should he get a second chance to threaten and torture? He won't be able to make a normal living so he will go right back to the streets. And his actions after the robberies really show what he is capable of. Just because someone gets cowardly and turns on their partner in crime, doesn't seem like a reasonable explanation to knock 4+ life sentences off a crime.
Does this mean he has to serve all 33 years??
He looks really good in his new prison jammies and slippers. I hope this person (I won't call him a man) has to serve every year of his sentence, right down to the last second. My friend was one of this person's victims. I've never been robbed and made to lay face down with the barrel of a gun against my head. My friend was. This person does not belong in society. Today this person is at home, with his kind, and right where he belongs.
Wow...
33 years from now using a computer may be the ONLY way to buy or sell ANYTHING.
Is that the same as preventing a person convicted of choking someone from using their hands the rest of their life?
In the eternal words of the Rev. Al Sharpton...
"Can't we all just get along"
Wrong guy
Rodney King said that.