Obama commutes sentences of 4 Michigan prisoners

Washington — Four Michigan prisoners were part of a series of nationwide commutations Wednesday by President Barack Obama of U.S. residents who were jailed on drug charges.

The White House said Wednesday that Obama has commuted the sentences of William Anthony Freeman and Vince Cordell King of Detroit, Samuel Grooms of Clinton Township and John L. Tolliver of Holly.

The commutations were part of 214 sentences that were overturned as part of Obama’s push for criminal justice reform in his last five months in office.

“Too many men and women end up in a criminal justice system that serves up excessive punishments, especially for nonviolent drug offenses,” Obama said in an email distributed by the White House. “But this is a country that believes in second chances. So we’ve got to make sure that our criminal justice system works for everyone.”

Freeman, 58, is an inmate at a low-security federal prison in Loretto, Pennsylvania. He was convicted in 1990 of leading a gang of drug traffickers in Flint, Battle Creek and Detroit that moved more than one kilogram of cocaine every month for more than a year, according to federal court records. The gang used violence to ensure street-level distributors followed rules.

The district court sentenced Freeman to 480 months in prison, noting in the judgment the reason for the sentence was the “extremely large amount of cocaine base which was distributed.”

King, 48, is serving life at a medium-security prison in Lewis Run, Pennsylvania. He was sentenced in 1996 for “possession with intent to distribute cocaine base (two counts); using or carrying of a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime; felon in possession of a firearm,” according to the White House.

Sentencing guidelines called for 188 to 235 months in prison, or about 151/2 to 191/2 years, according to court records. But because of a prior felony, King was subject to a statutorily required term of life imprisonment.

Grooms, 58, is serving life at a medium-security prison in Marion, Illinois. He was sentenced to life in prison in 2005 for “conspiracy with intent to distribute heroin; attempted possession with intent to distribute heroin.” Grooms tried to get his sentence overturned in 2009, arguing his attorney was on drugs during the time of his trial.

Tolliver, 48, is an inmate at a medium-security prison in Lompoc, California, although his drug crimes happened in southern Illinois. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison and 10 years of supervised release in 2005 for “conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of cocaine base.”

The White House said King, Freeman and Tolliver’s sentences were commuted by Obama to expire Dec. 1. Tolliver’s 10-year supervised release sentence will be cut to five years.

The president commuted Groom’s life sentence to a 20-year prison term.

“This is a country that believes in second chances. So we’ve got to make sure that our criminal justice system works for everyone,” Obama said. “Altogether, I’ve commuted more sentences than the past nine presidents combined. And I am not done yet.”

Republicans in Congress have said criminal justice reform is one of the few areas for potential bipartisan agreement in Obama’s last few months in office.

“Criminal justice reform is an issue where a lot of conservatives have really taken a great involvement in,” House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin, said in a February interview with Fox News. “That’s an issue I think we have a chance of getting things done.”

Detroit News Staff Writers George Hunter and Robert Snell contributed.