Lance Sessoms

Written by Lance’s daughter

Lance Sessoms, who is currently serving a sentence of 75 years to life for a crime he committed nearly 35 years ago. When Lance was just 22 years old, he and five other young men from Brooklyn were involved in a drug deal turned robbery in Albany, New York. Things spiraled out of control, and Lance ended up shooting and killing two of the men they had planned to rob. The case was known by the local media as the "Brooklyn Six”: six young men from Brooklyn who committed a crime in Albany that would ultimately lead to five “death by incarceration” sentences. The nature of the crime is undeniably tragic. Two lives were lost. And yet, the subsequent hyperbolic media accounts, a trial fueled by racial animosity, and sentences that far exceeded the norm, needlessly created a second tragedy: five young men essentially buried alive (one co-defendant was convicted of lesser offenses and served a term of 7½ to 15 years). Today, Lance is the last one of his co-defendants remaining behind bars. Although one of his co-defendants sadly passed away while in prison, the rest were granted clemency by former Governor Andrew Cuomo and are doing amazing things for their communities.

Lance too deserves this opportunity. While in prison, he has been heavily engaged in programming, earning a college degree in psychology and mentoring other incarcerated men who are in need of guidance and support. He has a wife, three children, and eight grandchildren who desperately want to see him come home. Above all, Lance is remorseful. He has carried the weight of taking two human lives, and while it has weighed on his conscience, it has not broken his spirit. He knows that he cannot bring back the dead, but he has pledged to live his life in service to others and has committed himself to bringing more humanity into his interactions with others and the world. Keeping Lance in prison for another 40 years will not bring back his victims nor will it heal the pain caused by their deaths. It will only continue to perpetuate a pernicious cycle of injustice, violence, and trauma to all of those who have been impacted by this senseless crime. At 57, Lance bears little to no resemblance to the person he was at 22. He is living proof that people can change.

Lance’s current sentence is tantamount to death by incarceration given the fact that he will be 97 by the time he sees the parole board, and most people in prison do not live to that age given the abhorrent living conditions they are subjected to. We are urging Governor Hochul to recognize the power of mercy and redemption, and grant Lance Sessoms a commutation of sentence.