President Obama Shortens Sentences for 7 Tampa Bay Residents

TAMPA BAY, FL — President Barack Obama announced his decision to shorten the sentences of 214 federal prisoners on Wednesday, the most commutations granted in a single day since at least 1900. The action affected seven Tampa Bay area residents who will now be released from jail before their sentences were set to end.

Nearly all 214 prisoners were serving sentences for nonviolent drug crimes, and 67 people were serving life sentences. Many of the 214 people will be set free at the end of the year, while others will remain behind bars another year or two. Some of them will have to enroll in mandatory drug programs once released.

The president has been pushing hard for shorter sentences for nonviolent criminals for some time.

“This is a good day — not just for the 214 individuals who are getting a hard-earned second chance, but for the people at the White House and the Department of Justice and at advocacy organizations across the country who work every day to remedy injustices in our sentencing laws,” White House counsel Neil Eggleston told BuzzFeed, which first reported the news.

“We’re going to keep our foot on the gas pedal when it comes to reviewing applications for clemency, but we are also going to need leaders in both parties in Congress to pass long overdue reforms to our criminal justice system to achieve lasting change on the scale that is needed.”

Obama has now commuted 562 sentences during his presidency, which the White House says is more than the last eight presidents combined. In May, Obama lessened sentences for 56 people.

While leading the way on shorter sentences, the president has been reluctant to issue full pardons compared to his predecessors. His 70 since he took office is the lowest of any president since James Garfield, who died six months into his term, according to Yahoo News.

A pardon essentially wipes clean the slate of a convicted criminal. A commutation only lessens the punishment.

Tampa Bay area residents who received the news of commuted sentences Wednesday include:

Torey A. McKay – Wesley Chapel, FL

• Offense: Possession with intent to distribute and distribute five grams or more of cocaine base (two counts); possession with intent to distribute and distribute 50 grams or more of cocaine base; possession with intent to distribute and distribute a quantity of cocaine; Middle District of Florida
• Sentence: 262 months' imprisonment; five years' supervised release (March 29, 2006)
• Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on Dec. 1, 2016.

Joshua Boyer – Tampa, FL

• Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine; possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense; possession of a firearm not registered in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record; Middle District of Florida
• Sentence: 288 months' imprisonment; five years' supervised release (Nov. 27, 2001)
• Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on Aug. 3, 2018, conditioned upon enrollment in residential drug treatment.

Donyelle Childs – Clearwater, FL

• Offense: Possession with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of cocaine base; felon in possession of a firearm; Middle District of Florida
• Sentence: 262 months' imprisonment; five years' supervised release (Jan. 12, 2006)
• Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to a term of 188 months' imprisonment.

Vincent Duval – Bradenton, FL

• Offense: Possession with intent to distribute five grams or more of cocaine base; Middle District of Florida
• Sentence: 262 months' imprisonment; eight years' supervised release (Oct. 28, 2003)
• Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on Aug. 3, 2018, conditioned upon enrollment in residential drug treatment.

Toddrick Onterio Franklin – St. Petersburg, FL

• Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of cocaine base; possession with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of cocaine base; possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime; being a previously convicted felon in possession of a firearm in and affecting interstate commerce; Middle District of Florida
• Sentence: 300 months' imprisonment; 120 months' supervised release (March 21, 2003)
• Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on Dec. 1, 2016.

Steven R. Hardy – Tampa, FL

• Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute, and to distribute, more than 5 kilograms of cocaine and more than 50 grams of cocaine base; possession with intent to distribute and distribution of more than 50 grams of cocaine base; Middle District of Florida
• Sentence: Life imprisonment; 10 years' supervised release (Nov. 14, 2005)
• Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on Dec. 1, 2016.

Eric L. Lemon – St. Petersburg, FL

• Offense: Conspiracy to distribute 50 grams or more of cocaine base; Middle District of Florida
• Sentence: 188 months' imprisonment; 10 years' supervised release (June 6, 2007)
• Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on Dec. 1, 2016.

Since the "War on Drugs" began in the 1980s, the number of people in jail for drug offenses increased from 41,000 in 1980 to nearly half a million in 2014, according to The Sentencing Project, and one in nine people are serving life sentences. Advocates for reducing prison populations say that sentences of nonviolent offenses should be capped at 20 years.

Image via the White House

Patch’s Marc Torrence contributed to this story.