President Obama cut short on Tuesday the sentences of 111 federal inmates in another round of commutations for those convicted of nonviolent drug offenses.
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The New Jersey prisoners were among 111 people who had their sentences shortened by the president.
Derrick Lewis Bynum of Hyattsville was sentenced to 25 years in 2006 for conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute drugs, use of a communications device to facilitate narcotics trafficking and possession of a firearm.
Three other Californians, Barry Renfold Cooley of Los Angeles, Richard Van Winrow of Los Angeles and Orfil Javier Garza of Pacoima also received commuted sentences from the president.
The 325 commutations Obama granted in August are more than any president granted in a single year for almost a century, the White House said.
One of those granted relief was Tim Tyler, who at 25 was sentenced to life in federal prison for selling LSD while traveling the country following the Grateful Dead.
In August alone, the president commuted the sentences of 325 prisoners.
– Ricardo Gallardo, 37, of Rockford, who was sentenced in 2005 to 30 years in prison in a cocaine, heroin and money-laundering case. Throughout his presidency, Obama has granted 673 commutations.
The commutations – a shortening of a criminal sentence using the president’s constitutional pardon power – are part of the Obama administration’s two-year old clemency initiative.
Yates also called on Congress to pass legislation to bring about prison-sentencing reform before the end of the year. On May 17, 1988, he was sentenced to 20 years at the Montana State Prison, with ten suspended on each count, to be served concurrently to each other.
Obama has said he wants to imbue the justice system with more fairness, including reforming mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent crimes. He was originally sentenced to 240 months of imprisonment and 10 years supervised release in June of 2001.
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US President Barack Obama will meet controversial Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte next week, the White House said, despite concerns over a war on crime that has claimed more than 2,000 lives.
