Obama has a soft spot for Cocaine Crack and Meth Dealers ... hmmm wonder why
I'm still looking for a political prisoner https://www.justice.gov/pardon/obama-commutations....
Darnell L. WalkerOffense: Conspiracy, possession with intent to distribute cocaine and cocaine base; possession with intent to distribute cocaine and cocaine base; possession of firearm by convicted felon (two counts)
District/Date: Northern District of Ohio; December 26, 1995
Sentence: Life imprisonment
Terms of grant: Prison sentence commuted to a term of 360 months' imprisonment.as an example a lifer Darnell L. Walker :http://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F3/160/1078/533971/The defendants,
Darnell L. Walker and William A. McKinley, appeal from the judgments of conviction and sentences imposed following a jury trial on
various drug and firearm charges in connection with a conspiracy to distribute cocaine and cocaine base in Youngstown, Ohio. The appeals present numerous issues, none of which warrant setting aside the defendant's convictions. We will, therefore, affirm both defendants' convictions, and Walker's sentence. We conclude, however, that
McKinley's sentence must be vacated because the district court clearly erred in finding that McKinley was a leader of the conspiracy...
Between April and October 1993, Walker and McKinley were members of a Youngstown, Ohio, gang known as
the Ready Rock Boys. The raison d'etre of the Ready Rock Boys was
the processing and distribution of cocaine and cocaine base, also known as "crack." The defendants, along with nine others, were named in a 13-count indictment handed down in January 1994, charging them with conspiracy to possess cocaine and cocaine base with the intent to distribute, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 846, 841(a) (1). The indictment alleged that various codefendants sold cocaine or cocaine base in furtherance of the conspiracy, in a total amount of 25.2 grams of cocaine and 175.2 grams of cocaine base.
...
Walker challenges the government's method of proving the prior-conviction element of his two felon-in-possession charges under § 922(g) (1), contending that there was a violation of the rule announced in Old Chief v. United States, 519 U.S. 172, 117 S. Ct. 644, 647, 136 L. Ed. 2d 574 (1997).
...
In this case,
Walker was charged with two violations of section 922(g). One count charged him with possessing, on April 30,
1993, "a Dan Wesson .357 caliber revolver, Serial Number 232360, which had been shipped in interstate commerce," after having been convicted of a felony on April 22, 1993. A second count charged him with possessing, on May 21, 1993,
"a 9mm Ruger semiautomatic handgun, Serial Number 302-45136, which had been shipped in interstate commerce," having earlier been convicted of the same April 22, 1993, felony.
...
Walker contends that he should not have received a life sentence, arguing that he had only one final prior felony conviction at the time he committed the first overt act in the conspiracy, because at the time, he had not been sentenced on one of his two felony drug convictions; collaterally, he contends, the cocaine in that first sale should not be included in the amount personally attributable to him, meaning that he is responsible for less than the 50-gram threshold specified in the statute. He also argues, alternatively, that it is inappropriate to aggregate the separate overt acts in the conspiracy to reach a 50-gram total; he should only be subject to a life sentence if a single transaction was for more than 50 grams. These disputes raise issues of statutory interpretation, and we therefore conduct de novo review. United States v. Brown, 151 F.3d 476, 482 (6th Cir. 1998).
