Obama grants clemency to 102 inmates, including felon from Arkansas

Arkansan, 50, convicted in 1993 on two drug counts, will be freed on Feb. 3

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama is granting clemency to 102 more prisoners, including a convicted felon from Arkansas.

Lancell Maurice Harris, 50, was scheduled to be released on July 4, 2022. Now he'll be freed on Feb. 3, the White House said.

Harris, now held at a federal correctional facility in Texarkana, Texas, was convicted of two counts of cocaine possession with intent to distribute and two counts of carrying a firearm while drug trafficking.

He was caught with 10 ounces of cocaine and a handgun in October 1992, according to media reports at the time. In December 1993, he was sentenced to 421 months in prison.

After changes to the sentencing guidelines, Harris' sentence was eventually cut to 360 months.

"The vast majority of today's grants were for individuals serving unduly harsh sentences for drug-related crimes under outdated sentencing laws," White House counsel Neil Eggleston wrote Thursday.

Those granted clemency have overcome "the longest of odds to earn this second chance," Eggleston wrote. "The individuals receiving commutation today are mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, and in some cases grandparents. Today, they and their loved ones share the joy of knowing that they will soon be reunited."

The White House said Obama has now given clemency to 774 inmates, more than his 11 predecessors combined.

Of those, 590 were granted this year, including at least five other people from Arkansas.

Other Arkansans receiving commutations this year include:

• Clarence Douglas Coakley, who was convicted in 1996 of possessing and "knowingly, intentionally and unlawfully distributing" crack cocaine in North Carolina, according to court records.

• James McGee of Chidester, Sheldon Paul Mangiapane of Hot Springs and Billy Whitehead of North Little Rock, who were all serving lengthy sentences for drug-related crimes.

• In March, Obama commuted the sentence of 72-year-old Kenneth Isaacs of Little Rock, who was serving a 15-year sentence on drug-related crimes. Isaacs was released on July 28.

While commutations are "a powerful tool to rectify specific cases," Eggleston said that legislation is needed to address what he called "excessive mandatory minimum sentences."

"Only the passage of legislation can achieve the broader reforms needed to ensure our federal sentencing system operates more fairly and effectively in the service of public safety," he wrote.

Bipartisan legislation to overhaul the nation's criminal justice system was introduced in the House and the Senate one year ago, but stalled.

Metro on 10/07/2016

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