Hello –
My name is James Hunter Purks. I am 31 years old and serving a 22 year sentence. My charge involved burglary in the daytime with no one present in the homes, possession of a fire arm by a felon, and possession of schedule 1 or 2 drugs. Most of my time came from possession of a firearm, out of the 22 year sentence 17 was for taking firearms and selling them for heroin. These charges are mandatory minimum and could not be suspended. One judge and homeowners in one court did not want me to get more time but wanted me to be able to get help for my drug addiction in a program. Most people working in the system know it is not equipped to help with the proper needed treatment for serious drug addiction. I have gotten clean on my own and was chosen by the Virginia Redemption Project to have a lawyer assigned to me to write a conditional pardon. We are asking that I be allowed to have time served and be transferred into a well-known and respected drug rehabilitation program. I have applied and been accepted into the program. I would be picked up by them at DOC and enter their program. I am clean now and what to stay that way so I need their help with knowing my triggers and coping skills to stay that way. I want to succeed in life. I also want to call awareness to people like me in the system and once I am out help others with what I have learned. Since I have been in prison I have completed college courses to be a certified Legal Aid. I have worked as a Legal librarian helping inmates file legal paperwork. I am currently taking courses thru NYU. I wrote them and was selected to participate in their program. I know I deserve to be punished for the crimes I committed and the pain that caused the homeowners. I have been told 22 years is excessive for non-violent crimes. Please let me continue to move forward in my recovery and growth. I am older and more motivated than ever.
Please show your support thru comments here. Hopefully this will help get word to the Governor to grant my conditional pardon and bring awareness to getting the proper help for addicts. Thank you for your time in reading this
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