Parker v. Mallett
Annotate this CaseAfter two felony convictions and consecutive sentences for selling cocaine, Atiba Parker later pled guilty to a third felony, cocaine possession. The judge sentenced Parker as a subsequent offender to eight years on the possession charge, to be served concurrently with Parker's two cocaine sales convictions. Based on the two drug dealing convictions, the judge also sentenced Parker as a habitual offender. After serving a quarter of each of his first two felony sentences, Parker asked the Mississippi Department of Corrections for a parole date on his cocaine possession sentence. MDOC determined Parker was parole eligible on the two cocaine sale sentences. But because Parker had been sentenced as a habitual offender on his cocaine possession charge, and had not yet completed his mandatory eight year possession sentence, he was ineligible for parole. So no parole date was set on his cocaine possession conviction. After exhausting MDOC’s Administrative Remedy Program (ARP), Parker filed a complaint in circuit court seeking judicial review. The circuit court agreed with MDOC and affirmed its parole decision. Parker then appealed to the Mississippi Supreme Court. Because time remained on Parker’s habitual offender sentence, he was statutorily prohibited from receiving parole for his cocaine possession conviction. The Supreme Court thus affirmed MDOC’s parole denial.
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