Suspect Afrika Owes is modern-day Patty Hearst, Rev. Calvin Butts claims

The Rev. Calvin Butts compared Afrika Owes (right) to kidnapped heiress Patty Hearst (left)

Afrika Owes is a modern-day Patty Hearst who deserves a second chance, says one of Harlem's most prominent pastors.

The Rev. Calvin Butts of Abyssinian Baptist Church took to his pulpit for the second time in a week to urge his congregation to back 17-year-old Owes, the Harlem-raised former Deerfield Academy prep-schooler.

She was arrested during a sweep of 14 gangbangers for peddling crack, carrying out beatings and recruiting kids to run guns on W. 137th St.

Butts said Owes should be given a break, comparing her with Hearst, the kidnapped heiress who was 19 when she joined her captors in violent bank robberies. He said he favored a personal recognizance bond to get her sprung from jail.

Hearst got help from two former Presidents: Jimmy Carter commuted her sentence and Bill Clinton pardoned her, Butts argued. "They spared no expense getting her out!" he said. "She robbed a bank, and described herself as an urban guerrilla!"

"If Patty Hearst can have a chance, why can't we take that chance on Afrika?" he said.

"It's not just for Afrika, it's for hundreds of thousands like her. We have to stand for all of our young people who have been unjustly incarcerated.

"It's the new slavery," he said. "It's mass incarceration."

Prosecutors declined to comment on the Hearst comparison Sunday, but a 51-page indictment portrays Afrika as an urban Bonnie to boyfriend Jaquan (Jay Cash) Layne's drug-dealing Clyde - who willingly carried his loaded gun.

Layne, 20, masterminded the scheme, and Owes worked on his behalf with other members of the 137th St. Crew, terrorizing the upper Manhattan neighborhood with drugs and violence, the Manhattan district attorney's office said.

She happily accepted the bling and other gifts bought with drug money, prosecutors said.

Owes' lawyer, Elsie Chandler, agreed with the Hearst comparison, calling it "right on point."

As did at least one of Owes' neighbors on W. 137th St. "Maybe her time in jail should be cut short because she was just trying to help him," said Evelyn Greene, 18. "If they could do it for [Hearst], they could do it for her, too," she said.

"She's just a girl that fell for a bad boy. She shouldn't do any time," Greene said. "I wouldn't do that for nobody, but love makes you do crazy things."