Posted on 12/19/2013 2:06:20 PM PST by Zakeet
President Obama on Thursday commuted the prison sentences for eight people convicted of crack cocaine offenses and pardoned 13 others, surpassing in the fifth year of his presidency all the acts of clemency from his entire first term.
“I am commuting the prison terms of eight men and women who were sentenced under an unfair system,” Mr. Obama said in a statement. “Commuting the sentences of these eight Americans is an important step toward restoring fundamental ideals of justice and fairness.”
[Snip]
“We are excited for the families of those who were granted commutations today, and we are glad that President Obama recognized that these individuals were serving unnecessarily lengthy sentences,” said FAMM [Families Against Mandatory Minimums] President Julie Stewart. “The bottom line, however, is that there are several thousand more where they came from.”
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Among those who had their sentences commuted by the president under the new "Catch and Release" program was Clarence Aaron of Mobile, Ala. ... who was sentenced in 1993 to life in prison for possession with intent to distribute cocaine ... and was justifiably pardoned because it is unfair to keep upstanding citizens like him in jail ... and because what he did wasn't all that bad ... really ... and because we need more people like him out on the street contributing to society!
Besides, there was a job waiting for him in Toronto...
When coming up with the amount of a drug that was in a person's possession, the actual amount ought to be used.
A kilo of crack is a tenth of a kilo of actual cocaine.
You kind of expect a crack head to go easy on crack pushers.
You kind of expect a crack head to go easy on crack pushers.
a great percentage of them will be back in the slammer within one year!
I actually don’t have a problem with this. He served over 20 years. Do you think selling drugs should result in a life sentence? Especially when most violent felons get a few years at most? I’d be perfectly fine with switching that around.
Clarence Aaron would’ve been released during the Bush administration had it not been for misconduct by a DOJ official involved in the case. His life sentence was outrageous.
Obama should’ve let him go years ago. Everyone who has heard of it agrees:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/2008/12/04/locked-up-for-life-part-one-case-clarence-aaron/
If the prisoner's court that originally convicted him granted a resentencing on appeal, or his parole board said so, or the governor of his state agreed and granted a commutation, yes.
But this is Big Dog Cracker-Buster Osagyefo Paramount Chief and Dear Leader Reichsfuehrer Barack I Obama just saying so on his own motion, to epater les bourgeoises crackas.
That's different. It's like my giving Jesse James an unearned pardon because he was a white boy.
Good call, neither do I. FWIW, this guy and the others are small peanuts.
December 2016 and January, 2017 will be the real revelation of Obama's convictions since that is historically when the REAL pardons and commutations are granted by the outgoing president....
Do you trust liberal axe-grinding media tools that much?
If it was up to Obama, Zimmerman would be serving a life sentence because of the Trayvon case, so I doubt he really knows what a “fair system” is.
15th offence?
I have no sympathy for Aaron. He decided to be associated with illegal activity and the stink rubbed off on him.
Sorry....he made a bad choice.....
I agree with you on that. If rehabilitation is part of the goal of incarceration a life sentence is a bit excessive.
The baking soda has nothing to do with it if you're talking about trafficking.
I’ll bet you that within a year they are all back in the pokey....................
The judge did agree, but this hands were tied by the mandatory sentence. And maybe you weren't aware, but "life without parole" means parole boards never hear the case.
The link I posted was from liberal, axe-grinding Fox News. Here's what liberal, axe-grinding National Review just posted:
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/366763/obama-shows-mercy-clarence-aaron-wesley-j-smith
I differ with this NRO post in that I don't believe Obama deserves ANY credit. He let this guy rot in prison for an extra five years because he didn't have the guts to do the right thing.
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