WASHINGTON, D.C. (KTAL/KSHV) – For the first time in his presidency, President Joe Biden on Tuesday granted three pardons and 75 commutations, with the most coming from Texas.
Out of the 75 commutations announced Tuesday, 19 of them (25%) were for Texas convicts. That’s far ahead of first the states with the next-highest number of commutations, Georgia and California, which had seven (or 9%) of the total commutations each.
Arkansas had no federal sentences commuted, and Louisiana had only one: a Morgan City man serving a 20-year sentence from November 2008 for conspiracy to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute 500 grams or more of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of methamphetamine.
Booty’s conviction was commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the 10-year term of supervised release and the unpaid remainder, if any, of the $10,000 fine.
One of the Texas prisoners whose sentence was commuted was convicted in the Western District of Louisiana. David Charles Jenkins of Beaumont was convicted in the Western District of Louisiana for intent to distribute and possession of cocaine base.
In 2020, U.S. District Senior Judge Dee D. Drell denied Jenkins’ motion for ‘compassionate release,’ which asserted Jenkins suffered from “ congestive heart failure, hypertension, mitral valve disorders, aortic valve disorders, neoplasm of an unspecified nature of the respiratory system and anemia.”
- Nickolas Cano – Amarillo, Texas
Offense: Possession with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine and aiding and abetting (Northern District of Texas).
Sentence: 140 months of imprisonment, four-year term of supervised release (September 5, 2014).
Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the four-year term of supervised release.
- David Charles Jenkins – Beaumont, Texas
Offense:
1. Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine base; possession with intent to distribute cocaine base (Western District of Louisiana).
2. Violation of supervised release (Eastern District of Texas).
3. Production of counterfeit access devices (Eastern District of Texas).
Sentence:
1. 151 months of imprisonment, eight-year term of supervised release, $5,000 fine (November 28, 2011); amended to 121 months of imprisonment, eight-year term of supervised release, $5,000 fine (February 9, 2018).
2. 24 months of imprisonment (January 5, 2012).
3. 24 months of imprisonment, three-year term of supervised release, $2,516 restitution (April 29, 2015).
Prison sentences and terms of supervised release in each case to run consecutively.
Commutation Grant: Sentences commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the eight and three-year terms of supervised release, and the unpaid remainders, if any, of the $5,000 fine and $2,516 restitution.
- Alejandro Reyna – Brownsville, Texas
Offense: Importation of more than 50 grams of methamphetamine (Western District of Texas).
Sentence: 210 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release, $2,000 fine (January 16, 2014); amended to 180 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release, $2,000 fine (February 26, 2016).
Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the five-year term of supervised release and the unpaid remainder, if any, of the $2,000 fine.
- Stephanie Hernandez – Dallas, Texas
Offense: Distribution of a controlled substance (Northern District of Texas).
Sentence: 120 months of imprisonment, a three-year term of supervised release (April 21, 2017).
Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the three-year term of supervised release. - Julio Garza – Edinberg, Texas
Offense: Possession with intent to distribute 10 kilograms of cocaine (Southern District of Texas).
Sentence: 240 months of imprisonment, a 10-year term of supervised release (May 13, 2010).
Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on August 24, 2022, leaving intact and in effect the 10-year term of supervised release. - Deborah Ann Dodd – Forney, Texas
Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of a mixture or substance containing a detectible amount of methamphetamine or 50 grams or more of actual methamphetamine (Eastern District of Texas).
Sentence: 140 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release (February 19, 2015).
Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the five-year term of supervised release. - Brittany Krambeck – Fort Worth, Texas
Offense: Maintaining drug-involved premises; structuring transactions to evade reporting requirements (Northern District of Texas).
Sentence: 220 months of imprisonment, a three-year term of supervised release (October 29, 2010).
Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2024, leaving intact and in effect the three-year term of supervised release. - Nova Neal Finau – Fort Worth, Texas
Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance (Northern District of Texas).
Sentence: 140 months of imprisonment, four-year term of supervised release (March 31, 2016).
Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the four-year term of supervised release. - Quang Nguyen – Houston, Texas
Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 1,000 or more marijuana plants (Southern District of Texas).
Sentence: 120 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release (March 30, 2017).
Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the five-year term of supervised release. - Ramola Kaye Brown – Huntsville, Texas
Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine and less than 50 kilograms of marijuana (Southern District of Texas).
Sentence: 145 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release (September 15, 2015).
Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the five-year term of supervised release. - James Darrell Walker – Lubbock, Texas
Offense: Distribution of and possession with intent to distribute cocaine base (Northern District of Texas).
Sentence: 327 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release (August 21, 2006); amended to 262 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release (June 9, 2016).
Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the five-year term of supervised release. - Rosamaria Lucero – New Braunfels, Texas
Offense: Possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance, aiding and abetting (Western District of Texas).
Sentence: 120 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release (February 13, 2018).
Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the five-year term of supervised release. - Lori Jean Cross – North Richland Hills, Texas
Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance (Northern District of Texas).
Sentence: 120 months of imprisonment, three-year term of supervised release (September 12, 2016).
Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the three-year term of supervised release. - Aaron Ponce – Odessa, Texas
Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute, and to distribute a controlled substance, 50 grams or more of actual methamphetamine (Western District of Texas).
Sentence: 240 months of imprisonment, 10-year term of supervised release (July 11, 2013).
Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on August 24, 2022, leaving intact and in effect the 10-year term of supervised release. - Mark Richard Burton – Odessa, Texas
Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute, and to distribute 50 grams or more of actual methamphetamine and/or 500 grams or more of a mixture and substance containing methamphetamine (Western District of Texas).
Sentence: 121 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release, $15,000 fine (March 16, 2016).
Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the five-year term of supervised release. - Sharon Louise Boatright – Richardson, Texas
Offense: Possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine (Northern District of Texas).
Sentence: 190 months of imprisonment, four-year term of supervised release (December 16, 2013); amended to 188 months of imprisonment, four-year term of supervised release (July 15, 2016).
Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the four-year term of supervised release. - Fermin Serna – Rio Grande City, Texas
Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute in excess of 1,000 kilograms of marijuana, a schedule I controlled substance (Southern District of Texas).
Sentence: 240 months of imprisonment, a 10-year term of supervised release (November 9, 2007).
Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on August 24, 2022, leaving intact and in effect the 10-year term of supervised release. - Catalina Davis – San Antonio, Texas
Offense: Conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine; aiding and abetting the possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine (Western District of Texas).
Sentence: 210 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release (March 6, 2014); amended to 151 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release (August 31, 2015).
Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the five-year term of supervised release.
- Rose Trujillo Rangel – Waco, Texas
Offense: Conspiracy to distribute cocaine, a schedule II-narcotic-drug-controlled substance (Western District of Texas).
Sentence: 240 months of imprisonment, three-year term of supervised release, $5,000 fine (April 14, 2008).
Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on August 24, 2022, leaving intact and in effect the three-year term of supervised release and the unpaid remainder, if any, of the $5,000 fine.
Texas was also prominent in the full pardons, as one went to Betty Jo Bogans of Houston.
Bogans, 51, was convicted in 1998 of possession with intent to distribute crack cocaine in the Southern District of Texas after attempting to transport drugs for her boyfriend and his accomplice, neither of whom were detained or arrested.
At the time of her conviction, Bogans was a single mother with no prior record, who accepted responsibility for her limited role in the offense. Because of the harsh penalties in place at the time she was convicted, Bogan received a seven-year sentence.
In the nearly two decades since her release from custody, Bogans has held consistent employment, even while undergoing treatment for cancer, and has focused on raising her son.
The others went to a U.S. Secret Service agent who was convicted in 1964 of trying to sell a copy of a Secret Service file, a former U.S. Secret Service agent in Chicago and another from Athens, Georgia who was convicted of helping distribute marijuana from his Athens, Georgia, pool hall, who pleaded guilty, served his time, went back home and converted his business to a cell-phone repair service.
Read the full list of pardons and commutations issued Tuesday here.
