Abbeville man gets life in prison for being a habitual offender

                Assistant District Attorney Stanton Hardee, III, prosecutor for District Attorney Mike Harson, announces that on Thursday afternoon in Abbeville, Judge Durwood Conque sentenced Derrick Harris, age 44, of Abbeville, to

life in prison without benefit of parole or probation after ruling Harris was a felony habitual offender. 

Hardee prosecuted Harris for distribution of marijuana, and Judge Conque found Harris guilty as charged on June 26, 2012.

  Jan Rowe represented Harris. 

On October 2, 2008, in Abbeville, Harris sold marijuana to an undercover officer for the Vermilion Parish Narcotics Task Force, and Harris used a juvenile in his school uniform to flag the officer down. 

This was all captured on video.   On September 20, 2012, Judge Conque sentenced Harris to 15 years at hard labor for distribution of marijuana.  Hardee chose to increase Harris’ sentence because Harris was a career criminal.   Yesterday, Hardee proved Harris was a felony habitual offender, a career criminal, by proving Harris was convicted of distribution of cocaine and simple robbery in 1994, simple burglary in 1997, felony theft in 2006, and distribution of marijuana in 2008. 

The law required that Harris get a mandatory life sentence once Hardee proved Harris was convicted of all those felonies.  Career criminals are not welcome in Vermilion Parish!