Obama shortens sentence of Cape Girardeau inmate

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Six federal inmates serving time in Missouri-related drug cases, including one from Cape Girardeau, are getting their sentences shortened by President Barack Obama, and three others got pardons.

The commutations were among 153 announced Monday by the White House, along with 78 pardons.

That’s the largest number of individual clemencies in a single day by any president.

Commutations went to Tammie Twyone Francis of Lee’s Summit, Steven P. James of St. Louis, Lamont Pollard of St. Louis, Kenneth Demon Terry of Ballwin, Vincent Lee Twiggs II of Cape Girardeau and Derwayne Williams of Independence. All are serving time for cocaine-related offenses.

Twiggs, now 35, was sentenced in March 2009 in the Eastern District of Missouri to 188 months in federal prison and four years of supervised release after being convicted of possession of five grams or more of a substance containing cocaine with intent to distribute.

Twiggs’ sentence will be commuted to a 151-month term if he enrolls in a residential drug-treatment program.

Obama issued pardons to Bob Edward Bone of St. Louis and Larry Wayne Childress of Williamsville in methamphetamine conspiracy cases and Emmanuel Gabriel Leeper of Plano, Texas, for a marijuana-possession conviction.

“Today’s acts of clemency — and the mercy he has shown his 1,324 clemency recipients — exemplify his belief that America is a nation of second chances,” White House counsel Neil Eggleston wrote in a blog post Monday.