Obama commutes Kennett man's sentence in 2004 drug case

A Kennett, Missouri, man was among 20 people to whom President Barack Obama granted clemency this week.

Antonio Gromyko Reeves pleaded guilty in 2004 to distribution of 6.05 grams of cocaine base and was sentenced to 15 years and eight months in federal prison.

Obama on Wednesday commuted Reeves' sentence to expire April 15, according to a news release from the White House.

At the time of his sentencing May 21, 2004, Reeves was deemed a "career offender" because of a 1997 attempted arson case in which he pleaded guilty to setting fire to several rolls of toilet paper at the Dunklin County, Missouri, Jail, federal court records show.

Under federal sentencing guidelines in place at the time, the designation more than doubled the minimum allowable sentence from 92 months -- the standard minimum for cocaine distribution in that quantity -- to 188 months, federal court records show.

A partial transcript from Reeves' sentencing hearing suggests the federal district judge who sentenced him, E. Richard Webber, was not happy with the guidelines.

"If I had the discretion without the United States Sentencing Guidelines, for the record, I would quite honestly be sentencing the defendant in the range of 92 to 115 months," Webber said at the time. "... What I am saying is that because of the United States Sentencing Guidelines in this case, that my discretion has been so severely reduced and I'm unable to pronounce a sentence that I think is a just sentence.

"The sentence that I will be giving in this case is an unjust sentence based upon all the facts in the case."

The sentencing guidelines were amended under Amendment 709 of the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010, which changed the way prior offenses were counted in designating a defendant as a career offender.

That change was part of the basis for a 2012 motion by Reeves to have his sentence reduced.

Webber denied the motion.

The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Webber's decision last year, noting while parts of the Fair Sentencing Act were made retroactive, Amendment 709 was not.

When he is released in April, Reeves will have served just shy of 10 years and 11 months in prison -- nearly 16 months longer than the maximum he could have received without the career-offender designation.

epriddy@semissourian.com

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Kennett, MO