Anthony Watson, sentenced to prison in 1992 for crimes that included rape and robbery, became a notorious jailhouse lawyer (even drafting a book, "A Guide to the Plea Circus") and through successful challenges had reduced his 160-year sentence to 26 -- and a release date of 2018.
However, he filed one appeal too many.
A court ruled in his favor on that final appeal and ordered a new trial altogether (vacating the convictions and sentence but also the reductions Watson had worked so hard for). At the retrial in March 2011, he was found guilty again and this time sentenced to four consecutive life terms. [St. Petersburg Times, 9-17-2011]
__From Chuck Shepherd’s News of the Weird (October 18, 2011)
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