KNOXVILLE, Tennessee — On paper, Almeer Nance said, it may appear he's got little chance of getting a break from his long, long Tennessee prison sentence.
In his "spirit," however, he believes he'll see freedom.
"The small successes make a huge difference," the inmate testified Friday afternoon in a hearing before Knox County Criminal Court Judge Hector Sanchez.
Nance and his legal team, including attorneys Jonathan Harwell and Melissa DiRado, are trying to convince Sanchez to revisit a sentence that pre-dates the judge's time on the bench, stretching all the way back to the late 1990s. Back then, Nance agreed to accept a sentence of life in prison to be followed by another 25 years.
Today, Nance says he didn't know what deal he actually was making as a teen, and he argues he's got a recent court decision that works in his favor.
When he was 16 -- a juvenile in the eyes of the law -- a 16-year-old Nance took part in the robbery and killing of a West Knox County Radio Shack employee named Joseph Ridings. Co-defendant Robert Vincent Manning, who was in his early 20s, fired the trigger.
A Knox County jury convicted Nance of felony murder. At the last minute, he agreed to take a sentencing deal that called for him to serve life, and then 25 years, rather than life without a chance at parole as the state of Tennessee said it would seek.
Nance told Sanchez he didn't fully understand all his options. He's still trying to finish out his life sentence of at least 51 years. Then he'll face serving time for a separate felony conviction.
Two years ago, however, the Tennessee Supreme Court ruled that life sentences for juveniles were cruel and unusual and merited review. Their ruling, however, didn't give inmates an automatic time reduction.
Nance's legal team has seized on the decision as a chance to get Nance out.
They contend his prison time should be changed to a combined, single sentence for which he should be parole eligible after 25 years. That would make him eligible right now.
Nance told Sanchez he's focused in recent years on being a positive person, doing positive things and bettering himself through higher education courses.
"I owe it to the victims of my crime. I owe it to myself," he said.
Veteran Knox County prosecutor TaKisha Fitzgerald, however, told the judge Nance already has had a break. In April he got a chance to make his case before the state parole board and they turned him down.
He's already had the shot to which he was entitled, Fitzgerald said.
The assistant district attorney general also drew testimony from Nance showing he'd repeatedly been written up in prison for misbehavior and failure to follow the rules. For a time, she said, he was in the Crips gang.
He's smoked marijuana in prison, she said.
Nance acknowledged he's gotten in trouble at times in prison. But he said it's been several years since he had a write-up of any consequence.
Nance insisted Friday he renounced his brief association with the gang in 2003.
Sanchez told the lawyers Friday he'd hear proof in the case and that Harwell and DiRado could file subsequent memos before making his decision. Other Nance family members were expected to testify.
The trial court likely is not the last step in Nance's quest.
