blount

23-year-old Travion Blount has spent 8 years behind bars for a bad decision he made at just 15.

The young man is currently serving a sentence of 118 years, plus 6 consecutive life sentences for robbery in Norfolk with two older teenagers.

From LiveLeak:

The then-15-year-old raided a house party with two 18-year-olds who received 10-year and 13-year sentences in plea deals. Blount refused a plea agreement and was found guilty by a Norfolk jury. A Circuit Court judge then handed down what many believe is the longest sentence in the country given to a teenage offender for a crime that wasn’t murder.

Read more at LiveLeak

Now, a Change.org petition created by Blount’s family is asking for a conditional pardon from outgoing Governor Bob McDonnell.

No one was hurt during the incident, and the sentencing is the harshest ever dished out to a teen for a crime where no one died in the country.

 

View and sign the petition here.

Thoughts on the story?

Will the petition make a difference? What needs to be done to keep our young black men from going down the path of the prison pipeline?

Sound off below!