Alabama man who served 36 years of life sentence for $50 bakery robbery to be freed

BESSEMER, Ala. - An Alabama man sentenced to life in prison for stealing $50.75 will have his time cut short after being resentenced to time served.

Alvin Kennard, 58, was ordered to be released from prison Wednesday after serving 36 years and is set to be processed out by the Alabama Department of Corrections, FOX 6 reported.

It was unclear when Kennard will be released.

In 1979, Kennard was charged with two counts of first degree burglary and grand larceny and received a three year suspended sentence, the news station reported. In 1983, Kennard was charged and convicted of robbery in the first degree for stealing $50 from a bakery.

Under Alabama’s old “three strikes law,” called the Habitual Felony Offender Act, Kennard has been in prison since 1983 on a life sentence without parole.

Alvin Kennard, 58, is pictured in an inmate photo. Kennard has spent the past 36 years in the William E. Donaldson Correctional Facility in Bessemer, Alabama. (Photo credit: Alabama Department of Corrections)

Kennard's attorney Carla Crowder argued that he would have received a 20-year max sentence under new sentencing guidelines.

“I just want to say I’m sorry for what I did,” Kennard said before the ruling was announced. “I take responsibility for what I did in the past. I want the opportunity to get it right.”

Kennard told news outlets he plans to live with family in Bessemer and work in carpentry.

This story was reported from Cincinnati. The Associated Press contributed.