President Obama commuted the sentences of 209 federal prisoners Tuesday, including four from Greater Cincinnati, according to the White House.
The overwhelming majority of the prisoners to whom the president granted pardons and commutations had been convicted of drug offenses -- former intelligence agent Chelsea Manning being a notable exception -- and all four of the Tri-State men whose sentences were commuted fit this description.
Quincy Dennis of Cincinnati, Mark Thornton of Hamilton, Ohio, William Brown of Covington, Kentucky, and Willard Wayne Howard of Crittenden, Kentucky, were all convicted of possession or distribution of cocaine, and all had been sentenced to life imprisonment.
All four will now serve reduced sentences ranging from 20 to 30 years, and Thornton, Dennis and Brown must enroll in residential drug treatment.
The president also commuted the sentence of Fabian Roberson, a Cincinnati man convicted in 2008 of selling cocaine and carrying illegal weapons, in December 2016.
