By DON FLETCHER
News Staff Writer
An Atmore man whose parole hearing had been continued five times earlier this year, finally was granted his freedom by the Alabama Bureau of Pardons & Paroles after having served less than three years of an 8-1/2-year sentence.
Alabama Department of Corrections records show that Jeffrey Lee Case was sentenced in 2016 to serve 104 months after his conviction in Escambia County Circuit Court on charges of distributing a controlled substance.
ALDOC shows that Case, 45, had served one year, three months and 20 days in prison, 166 days in jail awaiting transfer to the state, and had accumulated 211 days of “good time” at Staton Correctional Facility when his parole was granted.
Two other Atmore men and a Brewton man weren’t so lucky, as all three were denied parole.
Earl Dewayne Crenshaw, 42, of Atmore is serving a life sentence (with the possibility of parole) at Bibb County Correctional Facility. He was convicted in 2010, in Escambia County, as a habitual felon and sentenced to life on charges of possession and distribution of a controlled substance.
The life sentence was reinforced in 2011, when Crenshaw was convicted of first-degree robbery and first-degree burglary, also in Escambia County. He has currently served almost 11 years, including 245 days of jail credit.
Bureau members also rejected parole for another Atmore man, 37-year-old Markzander Johnson, who was sentenced to 20 years in 2009 after his conviction on two counts of first-degree robbery and one count each of first-degree burglary and first-degree assault.
Johnson, who is currently housed at Loxley Work Release Center, has been behind bars for 12-1/2 years, including 207 days of jail credit. He is serving a life sentence, with the possibility of parole.
Terrez McKenzie, 44, of Brewton will also remain behind bars, where he has spent the past 12-1/2 years. His minimum release date without parole or a pardon is January 19, 2024.
McKenzie, who is doing his time at Mobile Community Work Center, was convicted in 2011, in Escambia County, of possession of and distribution of a controlled substance. He was sentenced to serve 15 years and one day.
He also served all but four days of a 2-year sentence, also handed down in Escambia County, after he was convicted in 2004 of possession of a controlled substance.