Alice Johnson Sentence Commuted By Trump
- Thread starter i am herdman
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I know this issue tends to always end up in politics but, We really need some reform. I am all for locking up the bad guys. I am also in favor of finding ways to deal with people who just screwed up. This lady seems to be a decent gal who made one huge mistake. I don't claim to have all of the answers but turning this issue into a political contest isn't going to help our nation solve this problem IMO. Maybe being able to get people like President Trump and KK together shows us that maybe we can fix it.
Yes, because who else could help fix major issues in our country other than the class and intellect both cheeto and Kim Kardashian have.
A couple of months ago Trump suggested we execute the drug dealers.
you prove my point.Yes he did. He is prone to say things like that for sure. In the meantime it would benefit all of us if people on both sides of the aisle(Trump included) could tone the rhetoric down and sit down and talk.
According to the US Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), 2,220,300 adults were incarcerated in US federal and state prisons, and county jails in 2013 – about 0.91%of adults (1 in 110) in the U.S. resident population. Additionally, 4,751,400 adults in 2013 (1 in 51) were on probation or on parole.
That is a serious problem.That is a whole bunch of people incarcerated and many of them, when released will have a hard time finding work, housing and re establishing themselves into society. The more that can be done to resolve some of these issues the better. I feel it is better to help the ones that want help rather than kicking them to the curb where many of them will end back behind bars.
make fun of the effort all you want. Maybe this is only a photo op for both of them. All I know is we have a problem with the prison system and I can only hope that something like this ,which has created much goodwill, can point us in the right direction.
Ms Johnson's situation appears to be different and she spent 21 years in prison. She paid her debt, IMO.
Obama sure didn't commute her sentence though, did he? He had eight years to do it.
Yes, because looking at one individual case is a great way to judge what the issue is: criminal justice reform.
Christ.
Why didn't the great and wonderful Obama, who did not need a GOP Congress to do it, not change Fed policy when it comes to judicial reform?
Within the Justice Department the Executive Branch has great leeway and authority on this.
Within the Justice Department the Executive Branch has great leeway and authority on this.
You must have been too busy looking for his birth certificate to notice, but he did. Let me know if you'd like me to list many of them, preacher.
Trump is trying too hard to be down with the brown...where's Walden?
Did I read correctly she was involved in smuggling between 2000 to 3000 kilos of coke? Holy shit. That's sincere, alright. You people will approve of anything Trump does.
Seriously, I am for reforming drug laws. But damn, she didn't "make a mistake". A mistake is selling some rocks for quick money. I'd agree 20 years is enough...three tons of cocaine though...yeah, this is a strange person for some of you to be all sympathetic with.
Did I read correctly she was involved in smuggling between 2000 to 3000 kilos of coke? Holy shit. That's sincere, alright. You people will approve of anything Trump does.
Seriously, I am for reforming drug laws. But damn, she didn't "make a mistake". A mistake is selling some rocks for quick money. I'd agree 20 years is enough...three tons of cocaine though...yeah, this is a strange person for some of you to be all sympathetic with.
"Twenty years is way too long for a woman who smuggled in thousands of pounds of coke."
. . . but it's entirely reasonable to make a person wait ten years to enter the country who is just wanting to get a job, pay taxes, give their children a better opportunity, and be a productive citizen.
They continue to blindly follow the reality show host no matter how stupid it makes them appear.
I think she would tell people who the drug dealers were because she knew them.
You guys are never going to be happy. Trump felt she had served enough time. Showed some kindness, mercy, and commuted her sentence.
And you all still bitch.
No, you simply want to ignore everything Trump does that doesn't fit your narrative of him.
The lying bastard con man has a scheme set up with Cohen to make money off the office he holds (AT&T, etc). The lying bastard has no clue how the criminal justice system works. The f’ucking con man is considering handing out pardons like candy.
A federal judge sentenced her based on sentencing guidelines. This is what she did.
In 1996, Johnson was convicted of federal drug and money laundering charges. The indictment describes dozens of deliveries and drug transactions involving Johnson, who was a leader in a multi-million dollar cocaine ring.
Now the “law and order” President commuted her sentence....and some dumbass poster named big country was commenting on how Obama never commuted her sentence.
That is factually incorrect. I never heard of this woman until last night, so I looked her up. Apparently she was one of the leaders of the drug ring (see contemporary news article below). And I know the government says some crazy shit in criminal cases, so I kept digging. Other articles detailed she was actively involved in the smuggling and distribution of 3 tons of cocaine. She rented drug houses in a family members name. She was handling millions of dollars in cash. Some real G shit.
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7964949/the_tennessean_nashville_tn_2231997/
Here's the deal: you would not give a damn about her black ass if Trump was not attached to this. Trump would not give a damn about her black ass unless that Kardashian hoe was attached to it. You would not have sympathy for someone who was involved in a conspiracy with Colombian drug dealers for three tons of booger sugar if Trump were not attached to this. It's just another day of bullshit from you and other Trump supporters. And another day of bullshit from Trump, who thinks this helps him with black people or to be buddies with Kanye.
And weren't you involved in some military war on drugs shit? Come on man, you are not in any way sympathetic to someone dealing in tons of blow.
Trump was right: he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and none of you would care. Props to him for that.
lol, ironic part is that if trump was totally removed and there was absolute zero political emotions surrounding this, you and the rest of your lib-tribe would be all for her getting the sentence commuted, and the cons would be shitting their pants.
personally, i'm pissed i missed out on the great cocaine surge of the 70's & 80's. was just a bit too young.
That's the entire point. It's all fake.
Lib-tribe? My views are drugs are libertarian AF. Go ahead and sandblast a pound of blow up your nose if you want to. Yeah, I think 20 years is enough. And only because the coke business is stupid violent; legalize it, shut down the cartels, and sell that shit at Walgreens like they used to do. I couldn't care less* if she had grown a field of weed.
* Raleigh, take some notes on the correct usage of this phrase.
For all we know, this lady may have been running the coke for the Feds.
Anyone see “American Made”?
Anyone see “American Made”?
To derail the thread, Raoul, I actually believe you could care less.
Regardless what one's thoughts on drug crimes/penalties may be, if this is accurate, she should still be incarcerated. It's a wholly arbitrary application of the law. How do you justify pardoning her while ignoring tens of thousands of similarly situated inmates? Because she's a "nice" old lady? I'm certain there are other nice old ladies serving prison time that don't see this as some wonderful act of grace.
Because Kim Kardashian and Kanye, duh.
And I'd bet those other nice old ladies serving drug time didn't move 3 tons of cocaine. As you know there are many people with very long sentences for MUCH smaller amounts of drugs. Why not one of them?
I'm going to hit up the local retirement home the next time I need a coke mule.
Alice Johnson, the 63-year-old woman serving a life sentence on non-violent drug trafficking charges, had her sentence commuted by President Donald Trump Wednesday.
Johnson has served 21 years of her sentence after a conviction on charges of attempted possession of cocaine, conspiracy to possess cocaine, and money laundering, according to Can-Do Clemency, a nonprofit focused on clemency for drug offenders. Johnson was a first-time offender.
"Today, President Donald J. Trump granted a commutation to Alice Marie Johnson, a 63-year-old great-grandmother who has served almost 22 years in Federal prison for a first-time criminal offense," read a statement from the White House.
"Ms. Johnson has accepted responsibility for her past behavior and has been a model prisoner over the past two decades. Despite receiving a life sentence, Alice worked hard to rehabilitate herself in prison, and act as a mentor to her fellow inmates."
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I read or heard that her main job was being the go between the drug dealers from point a to point. I am not saying she was a pure nun. Life sentence seemed harsh.
I read or heard nothing until this broke into the news with Trump, and am not the type to take the word of Kanye and Kim with the Fat Ass.
There's a reason Obama's DOJ did not recommend letting her out. You ever meet a go-between for 3000 kilos of cocaine? Me neither. And I've known people who sold a decent amount of drugs.
She herself may not have been a "non-violent offender", but you can bet your ass someone got killed somewhere along the line of dumping 3000 kilos of cocaine into her city. This wasn't hippies selling weed.
And again, I am all for drug law reform. But you ignored my question: didn't you do some military stuff in the War on Drugs? I think you know what kind of business this coke business is.
From Wikipedia:
"The indictment described Johnson as the head of the multi-million dollar cocaine ring, and detailed dozens of drug transactions and deliveries.Evidence presented at trial showed that the Memphis operation was connected to Colombian drug dealers based in Texas.Johnson was sentenced to life imprisonmentin 1997. At the sentencing hearing, U.S. District Judge Julia Gibbons said that Johnson was "the quintessential entrepreneur" in an operation that dealt in 2,000 to 3,000 kilograms of cocaine, with a "very significant" impact on the community.Co-defendants Curtis McDonald and Jerlean McNeil were sentenced to life and 19 years in federal prison, respectively. A number of other co-defendants who testified againstJohnson received sentences of between probation and 10 years."
So. Johnson was the head of a 1,000+ kilogram cocaine trafficking organization. Every defendant sentenced in Federal Court has their base offense level calculated through the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines. At the time of Johnson's conviction and sentence the Guidelines were mandatory. That is, the sentencing Judge had to sentence w/in them. That is no longer the case.
In any event, the purpose of the GLs, even now, is to ensure that similarly situated defendants, guilty of similar conduct, with similar criminal histories face consistent penalties. Moreover, the application of mandatory minimums under specific drug statutes would also come into play.
Given the drug quantities at issue, Johnson's leadership role, and other factors taken into account by the GLs, she was sentenced appropriately.
Now, what has happened in the interim to warrant her receiving clemency where others have not? Let's look at the factors being discussed by Trump and the media.
She got old? There are a lot of inmates that are over 60. She has grandchildren and great-grandchildren she's never seen? Same. She helps other inmates and has made the best use of her incarceration? There are tens of thousands of incarcerated people that could say the same.
The bottom line is Trump did this as a publicity stunt to curry favor with black voters and get some positive press. That's not a reason to arbitrarily ignore the law.
Sentencing reform is a whole other issue and a can of worms that is, frankly, irrelevant to the granting of clemency to one particular defendant b/c it suits your own political agenda. In short, while a "feel good" story, this pardon - like many others - completely ignores the law and judicial process.
"The indictment described Johnson as the head of the multi-million dollar cocaine ring, and detailed dozens of drug transactions and deliveries.Evidence presented at trial showed that the Memphis operation was connected to Colombian drug dealers based in Texas.Johnson was sentenced to life imprisonmentin 1997. At the sentencing hearing, U.S. District Judge Julia Gibbons said that Johnson was "the quintessential entrepreneur" in an operation that dealt in 2,000 to 3,000 kilograms of cocaine, with a "very significant" impact on the community.Co-defendants Curtis McDonald and Jerlean McNeil were sentenced to life and 19 years in federal prison, respectively. A number of other co-defendants who testified againstJohnson received sentences of between probation and 10 years."
So. Johnson was the head of a 1,000+ kilogram cocaine trafficking organization. Every defendant sentenced in Federal Court has their base offense level calculated through the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines. At the time of Johnson's conviction and sentence the Guidelines were mandatory. That is, the sentencing Judge had to sentence w/in them. That is no longer the case.
In any event, the purpose of the GLs, even now, is to ensure that similarly situated defendants, guilty of similar conduct, with similar criminal histories face consistent penalties. Moreover, the application of mandatory minimums under specific drug statutes would also come into play.
Given the drug quantities at issue, Johnson's leadership role, and other factors taken into account by the GLs, she was sentenced appropriately.
Now, what has happened in the interim to warrant her receiving clemency where others have not? Let's look at the factors being discussed by Trump and the media.
She got old? There are a lot of inmates that are over 60. She has grandchildren and great-grandchildren she's never seen? Same. She helps other inmates and has made the best use of her incarceration? There are tens of thousands of incarcerated people that could say the same.
The bottom line is Trump did this as a publicity stunt to curry favor with black voters and get some positive press. That's not a reason to arbitrarily ignore the law.
Sentencing reform is a whole other issue and a can of worms that is, frankly, irrelevant to the granting of clemency to one particular defendant b/c it suits your own political agenda. In short, while a "feel good" story, this pardon - like many others - completely ignores the law and judicial process.
