Florida man gets 20 year prison sentence for stealing cigarettes

Robert Spellman.
Robert Spellman. Photo credit: Escambia County Jail

A Florida man has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for stealing 10 cartons of cigarettes.

Robert Spellman, 48, went into a convenience store in Pensacola on December 28, 2017. He took US$600 (NZ$900) worth of cigarettes out of a locked manager's office in the stock room.

Soon after he was found nearby with the cigarettes and arrested after matching the description of the suspect, The Pensacola News Journal reports.

On Friday (local time) an Escambia County jury convicted Spellman of burglary and grand theft. Judge Jan Shackelford sentenced him to 20 years in state prison, which many say is a disproportionate punishment for a relatively minor crime.

Some have accused the judge of racism, claiming that a white man convicted of the same crime would have received a lighter sentence.

Others contrasted the heavy penalty with the recent lack of punishment for a white Alaskan man who confessed to choking a woman until she passed out before masturbating on her.

However because Spellman has 14 prior felony and 31 misdemeanour convictions, he qualifies as a habitual felony offender under Florida law and the judge was within her rights to impose the harsh sentence.

Newshub.