Felon whose sentence commuted by Obama back in jail
You have to wonder how many of the 1,715 felons who had their sentences commuted by President Obama because they were "non-violent" drug offenders ended up back in the slammer.
We have to wonder because no one is really keeping track of all of them. But the Washington Free Beacon is reporting that a Texas man whose drug sentence was reduced to time served by President Obama was caught red-handed with two pounds of cocaine.
Robert M. Gill, 68, was sentenced to prison in 1990 for cocaine and heroin distribution until Obama allowed him, and other non-violent federal inmates, to be released. Last Thursday, however, Gill was caught with with more than two pounds of cocaine, the New York Postreported Monday.
Gill met with his probation officer before going to the parking lot of a food market to buy more than 2 pounds of cocaine. Someone gave him a black backpack that he placed in his vehicle, according to the court affidavit. When a sheriff's deputy in an unmarked car tried to stop Gill, he sped off, triggering a a high-speed chase that ended after he collided with another vehicle.
Officers found cocaine in the backpack and arrested Gill, who said "he was going to sell the cocaine to make money and would be paying a female $26,000 for the cocaine," according to federal court papers.
Gill was charged with possession with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine and was held without bail, according to the Post. If convicted, he faces up to 40 years in prison.
"I'm so disappointed to hear that he got arrested again," Ronald Schmidt, a lawyer who helped Gill appeal his life sentence, told the San Antonio Express News.
At the time of Gill's release, his prison warden said, "Robert has reformed and rehabilitated himself and poses no threat to the outside world."
True – unless you consider the fact that coke addicts who would have bought his merchandise would probably have stolen, mugged, and perhaps even killed to get the money to purchase his drugs.
Not to be outdone by the warden, President Obama had this to say when he commuted the felon's sentence:
"You have demonstrated the potential to turn your life around … Now it is up to you to make the most of this opportunity," Obama said.
It's hard to argue that Gill did not "make the most of his opportunity" – just not in the way that the president planned.
No one is arguing that America's drug laws aren't a problem. But really, two pounds of cocaine? How much of that coke would have been sold to children? Would there have been a gang turf war where people would have been killed – perhaps with innocents in the crossfire – as a result of these two pounds of coke being on the street?
No doubt, the battle cry of Barack Obama's commutation policy was "black felons matter!"