Early release of prisoner sparks Mississippi outrage | Reuters

(Reuters) - The early prison release on Friday of a man who fatally shot a high school valedictorian has prompted a public outcry and plans for protests against Mississippi's sentencing laws.

Joseph Burton Goff served just eight years of a 20-year sentence for manslaughter, shaving off some of his prison time by working on clean-up crews after Hurricanes Rita and Katrina.

"It is beyond me how a cold-blooded murderer can reduce his time spent in jail by doing things like cleaning up storm debris after a hurricane," Mississippi state Senator Michael Watson, a Republican, told Reuters.

Goff, now 28, was released from a prison in Columbia, Mississippi early on Friday and will remain on supervised release until January 2014.

In December 2001, he fired into the home of 18-year-old Kyle Todd, who was home from college on Christmas break. Hit in the heart, Todd ran to his mother's bedroom and died in her arms.

via reuters.com