President Obama on Wednesday commuted the sentences of 214 prisoners, the highest number in any single day since at least 1900.
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President Barack Obama on Wednesday commuted the sentences of more than 200 people serving federal sentences – including four in Ohio.
Eric L. Lemon of St. Petersburg was sentenced to 15 years in prison, plus 10 years supervised release, on charges of conspiracy to distribute cocaine.
Under the commutation grant, Brown’s prison sentence will expire on December 1, 2016.
He would not have been eligible to leave federal prison until 2020, but because of the commutation, he will be able to leave prison December 1, according to a news release from the White House.
Obama has now shortened the sentences of 562 individuals during his presidency – more than the previous nine presidents combined.
President Obama just commuted the largest number of federal prisoners in one day in more than a century.
Eggleston said Obama examines each clemency application “on its individual merits” before a decision is made. He asked the Department of Justice to prioritize petitions for commutations from people serving longer sentences than they would be given under federal law as it stands now.
Some of those pardoned on Wednesday will have their sentences reduced, while others will be released from prison.
He has been in prison since 1995 for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine base. Chris Christie has signed legislation requiring some nonviolent offenders to undergo drug treatment rather than be sentenced to prison.
Sandmeyer had previously been convicted of possession of meth with intent to deliver in 1997.
In 2006, 42-year-old Tyrand James of Youngstown was sentenced to serve twenty years for distributing cocaine.
Currently, more than 30 states that have modified some of their mandatory sentencing laws, at least for minor, non-violent offenses, which were adopted during the USA crack epidemic of the 1980s and 90s. Sentence: 240 months’ imprisonment; five years’ supervised release (April 26, 2001).
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Obama has long called for phasing out strict sentences for drug offenses, arguing they lead to excessive punishment and incarceration rates unseen in other developed countries.
