Washington – President Barack Obama on Tuesday shortened the prison sentences of nearly two dozen drug convicts, including some serving life in prison, in an act the White House said continues Obama’s push to make the justice system fairer by reducing harsh sentences that were handed down under outdated guidelines.
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The effort could lead Obama to grant clemency more often as his second and final term in office winds down.
In December, Obama issued his first round of commutations under new guidelines that were put in place to cut costs by reducing the growing prison population and grant leniency to nonviolent drug offenders sentenced to yearslong terms of confinement away from society. A commutation leaves the conviction in place and ends the punishment.
Neil Eggleston, the White House counsel, said many of the 22 people whose federal sentences will be cut short by Obama’s action would already have served their time and paid the debt they owed society had they been sentenced under current laws and policies.
“Because many were convicted under an outdated sentencing regime, they served years — in some cases more than a decade — longer than individuals convicted today of the same crime,” Eggleston said in a post on the White House blog. The 22 individuals were all sentenced between 1992 and 2006.
Eggleston said Tuesday’s commutations underscore Obama’s “commitment to using all the tools at his disposal to bring greater fairness and equity to our justice system.”
Obama has now approved a total of 43 commutations. Eggleston noted that Obama’s predecessor, George W. Bush, had commuted 11 sentences during his two terms.
The 22 individuals whose sentences will expire on July 28 are:
—Terry Andre Barnes, East Moline, Illinois. Conspiracy to distribute cocaine base; violation of supervised release. Sentenced to 246 months imprisonment.
—Theresa Brown, Pompano Beach, Florida. Conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine. Sentenced to life in prison.
—Donel Marcus Clark, Dallas. Conspiracy; use of a communication facility; distribution and/or possession of cocaine or manufacturing in or near a school facility, aiding and abetting. Sentenced to 420 months in prison, later amended to 360 months.
—Ricky Bernard Coggins, Tallahassee, Florida. Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine base. Sentenced to life imprisonment.
—Samuel Pasqual Edmondson, of Junction City, Kansas. Conspiracy to possess methamphetamine with intent to distribute; possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. Sentenced to life in prison.
—Amado Garcia, Fresno, California. Conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute methamphetamine; aiding and abetting the possession of methamphetamine; aiding and abetting the possession of heroin. Sentenced to 240 months in prison.
—Dwight Anthony Goddard, Decatur, Georgia. Possession with intent to distribute cocaine base. Sentenced to 235 months in prison.
—Lionel Ray Hairston, of Ridgeway, Virginia. Distribution of cocaine base. Sentenced to 262 months in prison.
—Francis Darrell Hayden, Loretto, Kentucky: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 1,000 or more marijuana plants or 1,000 or more kilograms of marijuana; manufacture of 1,000 or more marijuana plants. Sentenced to life imprisonment.
—Harold Kenneth Herring, Havana, Florida: Possession of a firearm by a convicted felon; possession with intent to distribute cocaine base. Sentenced to life imprisonment.
—Tommie Lee Hollingshed, Memphis, Tennessee. Distribution of a controlled substance. Sentenced to 324 months imprisonment.
—Derrick DeWayne Johnson, Birmingham, Alabama. Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine; possession with intent to distribute cocaine. Sentenced to 360 months imprisonment.
—Robert Martinez-Gil, San Antonio, Texas. Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine and heroin. Sentenced to life imprisonment.
—David Navejar, Brooksville, Florida. Conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of methamphetamine. Sentenced to 240 months imprisonment.
—Rudolph Norris, Washington, D.C. Unlawful distribution of cocaine base; unlawful possession with intent to distribute five grams or more of cocaine base. Sentenced to 360 months imprisonment.
—Tracy Lynn Petty, Shelby, North Carolina. Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine and cocaine base. Sentenced to 240 months imprisonment, later amended to 204 months.
—Luis Razo, Davenport, Iowa. Conspiracy to distribute cocaine. Sentenced to 240 months imprisonment.
—Antwon Rogers, Cleveland. Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 139.8 grams of cocaine base. Sentenced to life imprisonment.
—Herman Rosenboro, Kingsport, Tennessee. Conspiracy to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute over five kilograms of cocaine and over 50 grams of cocaine base; distribution of a quantity of cocaine base; distribution of a quantity of cocaine. Sentenced to life imprisonment.
—Lawrence Elmo Scott, Lynchburg, Virginia. Distribution of crack cocaine within 1,000 feet of a school. Sentenced to 283 months imprisonment.
—Levar V. Wade, Chicago, Illinois. Possession of 50 or more grams of crack cocaine with intent to distribute. Sentenced to 240 months imprisonment.
—Eugene Winters, Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Conspiracy to distribute cocaine base. Sentenced to 240 months in prison.
I would be curious to see a breakdown of this group of 22 convicts by race, which should also consider the proportions of these racial groups in the prison population.
Of course he’d never grant clemency to Jonathan pollard, or any other Jew for that matter. Rasha.
President just loves those drug dealers, dictators, and despots
how many blacks and how many muslims?
Drug dealers are rodfim.
BHO is releasing rodfim.
Read the book Orange is The New Black and you will agree with this. (dnt watch the series it has very little to do with the book). She points out that the mandatory sentencing is horrible, placing non violent first time offenders behind bars for way to many years, some ten years or more. A huge waste a taxpayer money and also taking mothers away from their children for a one time desperate mistake. Read the book and the stories and then judge.
This is only the beginning.
Obama is like any politician; he looks after his own.
Mr. Obama, do one right thing : RELEASE YONATAN POLLARD ALREADY!
But of course not Jonathan Polard
seriously? you really expect that??
Release Pollard? This bigot? You have a better chance of ISIS being hozer bitshuva!
Obama is more likely to have Pollard executed
This is one thing that politicans across all isles and walks of life agree with. Bth republicans and democartes. We cannot afford to maintan the current prison population. Low level drug dealers who are now 50 years old and sat for 20 years probably won’t do much crime. We simply can’t pay for it any more.
Former criminal attorney (prosecutor) here and I can tell you that our drug laws and sentencing schedules are ridiculous. Crack cocaine had enormous mandatory sentences compared to powder cocaine. Texas uses the entire weight of a pot brownie in its charging, so someone who bakes one pan of brownies using 1 gram of hashish is charged with having 1 pound of drugs and faces life in prison. A first time marijuana arrest in Arizona can be charged as a felony, even if the amount is a single gram. The system is broken and we are paying billions of dollars of our tax money to imprison these people and give them criminal records that will prevent them from getting good jobs in the future. Think about that when you have your 4 glasses of wine at Pesach, because alcohol is more dangerous than marijuana.