Obama commutes Sparta man's sentence

<p dir="ltr"><span>In Wednesday news release, the White House Office of Communications announced President Barack Obama had commuted the sentences of 214 federal inmates.</span>

<p dir="ltr"><span>Sixty-seven of those are serving life sentences and five are from Southern Illinois, including Tommy M. Martinez, of Sparta - who was sentenced to life in prison for conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine and distribution of crack cocaine.</span>

<p dir="ltr"><span>Almost all the affected prisoners are serving time for nonviolent crimes related to methamphetamine, cocaine and other drugs, and the commutations are part of Obama's push to phase out strict sentences for drug offenses.</span>

<p dir="ltr"><span>"Today began like any other for 214 federal inmates across the country, but ultimately became a day I am confident they will never forget," White House counsel Neil Eggleston wrote in a blog post on the White House's website.</span>

<p dir="ltr"><span>"This morning, these individuals received a message from the President: your application for clemency has been granted."</span>

<p dir="ltr"><span>Martinez, 38, was sentenced in 2000 and his sentence was commuted to expire Dec. 1, with an unpaid $4,000 fine to be remitted.</span>

<p dir="ltr"><span>He is being held at the medium-security Federal Bureau of Prisons facility in Pekin, Ill. </span>

<p dir="ltr"><span>According to court records, Martinez and four co-defendants (Justin Green, Willie Johnson, Adrian Harris and Sheridan Johnson) lived in Sparta and were principal distributors of crack cocaine in Sparta and Murphysboro from 1995 to 1998.</span>

<p dir="ltr"><span>Generally, they traveled to Murphysboro to sell the drug during the first week of the month when public aid checks were received.</span>

<p dir="ltr"><span>Court documents show current Randolph County Sheriff Shannon Wolff found crack on Martinez after a traffic stop on September 9, 1997, when he was a deputy with the agency.</span>

<p dir="ltr"><span>Wolff was doing a routine license plate check on a vehicle he observed when he was informed by dispatch that the registered owner of the vehicle - Gary Moore - had a possible warrant for his arrest.</span>

<p dir="ltr"><span>During the resulting traffic stop - in which the occupants of the suspect vehicle were Martinez, Green, Moore and Shannon Harris - Martinez became verbally disruptive, later telling the other three that they "Don't have to tell these mother(expletive) anything," referring to Wolff and another officer on scene, Daniel Hanna.</span>

<p dir="ltr"><span>Martinez was later arrested for "interfering" and during the booking process, two rocks of crack cocaine were found in the sweatband of the hat he was wearing.</span>

<p dir="ltr"><span>Although Martinez was occasionally known to obtain crack cocaine from other sources, his primary source was co-defendant Tony Gladney - who would purchase powder cocaine in East St. Louis, cook it into crack and then sell it to other individuals.</span>

<p dir="ltr"><span>The FBI eventually enlisted the help of a confidential informant, Chris Swope, to purchase crack from Martinez for $250.</span>

<p dir="ltr"><span>Martinez later surrendered to Sparta Police Department officers after his girlfriend and mother were notified by law enforcement that there was a warrant out for his arrest.</span>

<p dir="ltr"><span>He was convicted on both counts on January 13, 2000, but the jury was not requested to, nor did, return a verdict that determined any specific amount of crack.</span>

<p dir="ltr"><span>During an appeal to the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, Martinez contested that because he was sentenced above the statutory maximum for a drug offense without a jury determination of the amount of drugs involved, he should be re-sentenced.</span>

<p dir="ltr"><span>However, testimony of Gladney showed that the scope of Martinez's organization far exceeded the 50 grams sufficient to allow for a life sentence and Martinez's appeal was denied.</span>

<p dir="ltr"><span>"I feel that I hope he's rehabilitated himself and he doesn't end up in the same position he did before," Wolff said, when asked for his thoughts on the commutation of Martinez's sentence.</span>

<p dir="ltr"><span>The other four Southern Illinoisans receiving clemency were Jamonte L. Allison, of Carbondale (20 years for conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine); Christopher J. Heath, of Ridgeway (20 years for conspiracy to manufacture more than 500 grams of a mixture and a substance containing methamphetamine); Courtney D. Hurt, of Tamms (30 years for possession with intent to distribute cocaine) and Albert Jackson, of Mount Vernon (21 years for conspiracy to distribute cocaine and distribution of cocaine).</span>

<p dir="ltr"><span>"All of the individuals receiving commutation today, incarcerated under outdated and unduly harsh sentencing laws, embody the President's belief that 'America is a nation of second chances,'" Eggleston wrote in the blog post.</span>

<p dir="ltr"><span>According to Eggleston, Obama has granted 562 commutations to date, more than the previous nine presidents combined and the most in nearly a century.</span>

<p dir="ltr"><span>Of that amount, 197 were serving life sentences.</span>