President Obama surely has some fans in the Thomas household. Just a year after the president commuted the prison sentence of Demaryius Thomas’ mother, the commander in chief has decided to do the same with his grandmother.
Minnie Pearl Thomas was serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole for her role in a conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine. Thomas’ mother, Katrina Smith, was sentenced to 20-plus years for her involvement in the crime prior to Obama giving her a reprieve last July (more on that here).
Thomas’ grandmother was one of 214 sentences that were commuted by President Obama on Wednesday, 67 of which were serving life sentences (via ABC.com).
Smith’s mother was able to watch her son play football in the NFL in person for the first time this past season. It now looks like his grandmother, who has been imprisoned since 2000, will be able to do the same in 2016.
The vast majority of the reprieves Obama gave on Wednesday were done under the guise of his stance against mandatory minimums for non-violent drug-related crimes.