President Biden announced commutations and pardons of 78 people, including five Missourians. Luz María Henríquez, Executive Director of the ACLU of Missouri issued the following statement:
“The ACLU of Missouri is encouraged by President Biden’s grant of commutations to five Missourians, which is a promising signal that the President is committed to ending mass incarceration. America houses more than 20 percent of the entire world’s prison population even though we have only five percent of its population. Mass incarceration costs us $80 billion every year and perpetuates the systemic inequities that increase the likelihood by 10 times for Black people to be incarcerated for drug offenses compared to everyone else. Americans believe in justice for all, so this week’s 75 commutations and three pardons are a small step toward transforming our values into reality.
“Clemency is a power the United State constitution grants to the president and the Missouri constitution grants to the Governor. In both cases, it is often underused and usually only as the term is set to expire.
“In September 2021, Governor Parson took a step toward tackling Missouri's backlog of more than 3,500 clemency applications by issuing 168 pardons and 13 commutations. This was a positive signal that he would keep his pledge to do things differently than former governors with clemency applications. But it was just a start. Every clemency request– the 2,376 he inherited and those submitted while he has been Governor– deserves a prompt, thorough review because clemency allows the Governor to immediately impact Missouri’s mass incarceration problem.”
President Biden recently commuted the sentences of the following Missourian:
Brandon Todd Berry – Sikeston, Missouri
Offense: Conspiracy to distribute 500 grams or more of a substance containing methamphetamine (Eastern District of Missouri).
Sentence: 240 months of imprisonment, 10-year term of supervised release (October 19, 2010).
Commutation Grant: Sentence to expire on August 24, 2022, leaving intact and in effect the 10-year term of supervised release.
David C. Frazier – St. Louis, Missouri
Offense: Conspiracy to distribute cocaine; possession with intent to distribute a mixture containing cocaine; maintaining a drug involved premises (Eastern District of Missouri).
Sentence: 144 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release (May 21, 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 five-year term of supervised release.
Paul A. Lupercio – Blue Springs, Missouri
Offense: Conspiracy to distribute 1,000 kilograms or more of marijuana and five kilograms or more of cocaine (Western District of Missouri).
Sentence: 240 months of imprisonment, 10-year term of supervised release (May 8, 2008).
Commutation Grant: Sentence to expire on August 24, 2022, leaving intact and in effect the 10-year term of supervised release.
Byron James Miller – St. Louis, Missouri
Offense:
1. Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute crack cocaine; possession with intent to distribute in excess of 500 grams of cocaine (Eastern District of Missouri).
2. Possession with intent to distribute heroin; possession of heroin in a federal prison (District of Central Illinois).
Sentence:
1. 292 months of imprisonment, 10-year term of supervised release (June 6, 1997); amended to 188 months of imprisonment, eight-year term of supervised release (December 17, 2019).
2. 210 months of imprisonment, three-year term of supervised release (March 5, 1999).
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 consecutive eight and three-year terms of supervised release.
David L. Zouck – Buffalo, Missouri
Offense: Conspiracy to distribute 500 grams or more of methamphetamine; distribution of five grams or more of actual methamphetamine (Western District of Missouri).
Sentence: 132 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release (March 30, 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.