The state of Louisiana is considering an early release for McKinley Phipps (aka Mac). |
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The Louisiana Board of Pardons and Parole recommended Monday that Phipps be made eligible immediately for parole. It now goes to the desk of Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards for sign-off. If approved, Phipps will need to appear before the parole board one more time.
His wife Angelique Phipps have said on social media that she's hoping that the governor does consider her husband eligible for parole.
Mac recently married his wife. His wife has strongly advocated for his release. |
Phipps has been on work release at a facility in Raceland in Lafourche Parish since earlier this month. Reliving the night of the shooting to the parole board Monday, Phipps recounted seeing a commotion on the dance floor and hearing a shot fired. He ran to the front door to look for his mother, and they left together, he said, adding that he later learned a man had been killed.
Russell Baker, a close childhood friend of Phipps who was with him that night, told HuffPost it’s been a long and painful struggle in the years since, and he won’t feel relief until he can finally see his friend back with his family.
“It’s basically 21 years to the date that it happened. When it first initially happened, my faith was strong and I basically knew that no innocent man would be sent to jail for life. I knew for a fact that he was innocent,” Baker said. “My faith in the justice system has taken a hit.”
He said he will forever be sympathetic to the victim’s family, but it doesn’t change what happened to his friend.
Erik Nielson, a University of Richmond professor and co-author of “Rap on Trial: Race, Lyrics and Guilt in America,” has been a part of the team fighting for Phipps’s freedom. Nielson has conducted extensive research that has been critical of the use of lyrics to seek criminal convictions against Black artists.
“Everybody is very optimistic that this is by far the key hurdle,” he told HuffPost of Monday’s verdict. “His whole family has been tireless. His parents have been so beaten down by the process.”
But there’s still some uncertainty hanging, he said. “It’s not over until he’s out.”
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