Obama trims Cape man's sentence by three years; Twiggs one of 152 given clemency

Vincent Lee Twiggs, 35, of Cape Girardeau was serving a 15-year sentence in federal prison in Memphis, Tennessee, because of his prior convictions.

President Barack Obama granted Twiggs clemency Monday, along with 152 other federal inmates, lowering Twiggs’ sentence from 15 years and 8 months to 12 years and 7 months — provided Twiggs enrolls in a residential drug-treatment program.

In January 2009, Twiggs pleaded guilty in federal court to possessing five grams or more of a substance containing cocaine base with intent to distribute.

Judge Stephen Limbaugh sentenced him to 188 months in March 2009.

Under federal sentencing guidelines, Twiggs is considered a career offender because he was found guilty of two or more controlled-substance offenses prior to his federal indictment. Twiggs pleaded guilty to distribution of a controlled substance in June 1999, October 2000, February 2002 and July 2004 in Missouri courts. He received supervised probation in 1999 and 2002, but the probation was revoked, and in 2004, he received a sentence of 10 years in the Missouri Department of Corrections.

Multiple documents detailing the nature of the federal charges against Twiggs are sealed from the public.

The federal prosecutor’s office for the Eastern District of Missouri declined to provide specifics about the amount of drugs Twiggs possessed or details about his 2008 arrest.

Distribution of a controlled substance is a federal offense, but it is rare for federal agencies to pursue offenses involving small amounts of drugs.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency arrested 25,929 people on drug offenses in 2012, according to Bureau of Justice statistics, compared to more than 1.5 million drug arrests in the U.S., according to uniform crime reporting data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

bkleine@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3644

Pertinent address:

1101 John A. Denie Road, Memphis, TN