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Features
President Commutes Sentences Of
Confederate Flag
46 Convicted On Drug Charges
Inside County Center
BY IRIS B. HOLTON Sentinel City Editor
Earlier this week, Presi- dent Barack Obama com- muted the federal prison sentences of 46 people con- victed on drug charges. The commutation means that their sentenced have not been erased, but the time their will serve has been reduced.
Eleven of the individuals are from the State of Florida. An- thony Leon Carroll is from Tampa. He was convicted of possession with the intent to distribute cocaine base. He was sentenced to 262 months (21 years, 10 months) in prison, with 5 years of supervised re- lease in September 1999.
Roy Larry Lee, of St. Pe- tersburg, was sentenced to life in prison with 10 years of super- vised release in May 1990. He was convicted of two counts of conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute cocaine base (enhanced penalty) for the dis- tribution of 50 grams or more of cocaine base.
Marlon McNealy, also of St. Petersburg, was sentenced to life in prison, with 10 years of supervised release, in August 1993. He was convicted of two counts of conspiracy to commit racketeering, conspiracy to dis- tribute cocaine base, knowingly and three counts of intention- ally distributing 50 grams or more of cocaine base.
The sentence of all 46 in- mates will be commuted and all of them will be released from
Is Coming Down
ANTHONY LEON MS. KATRINA DEMARYIUS
CARROLL STUCKEY SMITH SMITH THOMAS ...Bronco’s Star WR
federal prison on November 10, 2015.
President Obama said the move was part of his attempt to reform the criminal justice sys- tem. His plan also includes re- viewing the sentencing laws and reducing punishments for non- violent crimes.
President Obama wrote a letter to each of the 46 men and women whose sentences were commuted.
President Obama said, “I am granting your application because you have demonstrated the potential to turn your life around. Now it is up to you to make the most of this opportu- nity. It will not be easy, and you will confront many who doubt people with criminal records can change. Perhaps even you are unsure of how you will ad- just to your new circumstances. But remember that you have the capacity to make good choices.”
Others whose sentences were commuted from Florida are: Nathaniel Brown, Or- ange Park; Cedric Culpepper, Orlando; Jerome Wayne
Johnson, Fort White; Mark Anthony Jones, Boynton Beach; Marcus H. Richards, Miami; Bryant Keith Shel- ton, Kissimmee; Jeffery Jerome Toler, Pensacola; and Dunning Wells, Fort Myers.
Others who received com- muted sentences included Kat- rina Stuckey Smith, of Montrose, Georgia, who is the mother of Denver Broncos’ De- maryius Thomas.
Ms. Smith was arrested in July 2000, and sentenced to 292 months (24.3 years), fol- lowed by 10 years supervised re- lease. She was convicted of conspiracy to possess with in- tent to distribute cocaine and cocaine base.
President Obama said had these individuals been sen- tenced under current laws and policies, many of them would have already served their time.
On Thursday, President Obama became the first presi- dent to visit a federal prison. He took a tour of the El Reno Fed- eral Prison in Oklahoma.
BY LEON B. CREWS Sentinel Staff Writer
As Confederate flags come down all over the country, there is still a lot of debate from sev- eral Confederate groups protest- ing the action and refusing to remove their flags.
As the debate over the flags raged on, County Commis- sioner Les Miller noticed a week ago that a Confederate flag was hanging among the five lo- cated in the lobby of the County Center.
“I was astonished, because I’ve been coming into this build- ing for years and passing those flags. I never noticed one of them was a Confederate flag.”
After the murder of 9 people inside a church in Charleston, South Carolina, and the arrest of the suspect, Dylann Roof who was seen holding Confederate flags, a national cry went out for the removal of the flag.
On Wednesday during the County Commission Board meeting, Comm. Miller made a motion that the Confederate flag be taken down, and placed inside a museum. His motion was followed by Comm. Kevin Beckner and it passed, but not without some debate.
Comm. Stacy White made
COMMISSIONER LES MILLER
two alternative suggestions, one that all of the flags be replaced by some kind of plaque or medallion, and later he sug- gested the issue be put on a ref- erendum for 2016 to let the voters decide. Neither sugges- tion gained support.
“I suggested we replaced the existing flags with flags repre- senting the five branches of the military,” said Comm. Miller.
“My colleagues thought that was a great idea, so the exiting flags will be stored inside the Tampa Bay History Center.”
Comm. Miller said Comm. White changed his po- sition once he understood that the Confederate flag wasn’t going to be destroyed.
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