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A Utahn sent to prison for a drug crime is among the latest people to receive a commutation from President Barack Obama.
Jimmy Phillip Medina, 54, of Ogden, is to be released from prison Oct. 6, 2018, according to an announcement issued Thursday by the White House.
Medina was convicted in federal court in 2005 of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. He was sentenced in April of that year to 240 months in prison and 10 years of supervised release.
News of the commutation evoked glee from Medina's former attorney. Vanessa Ramos, an assistant federal defender for Utah, said Medina was her first client to receive a 20-year sentence.
"Those tend to stick with you," she said.
"I remember him being a nice person, obviously, in unfortunate circumstances," Ramos added.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons website, Medina is at a low-security federal prison in Littleton, Colo., where he had a previous release date of Feb. 7, 2023. There is no parole in the federal prison system, only about 50 days a year off for good behavior.
The White House said the shortened sentence is conditioned upon Medina's enrollment in residential drug treatment.
The president also issued a commutation to a Colorado Springs, Colo., man who was convicted in Utah's federal court. Shane Alan Taylor, 46, will be released from prison on the same date as Medina.
Taylor was sentenced in 2005 to 240 months in prison for conspiracy to manufacture methamphetamine. A low-security prison in Big Spring, Texas, was scheduled to release him in 2022.
Obama has been issuing commutations to a variety of federal drug offenders, particularly those who received minimum, mandatory sentences, in an effort to bring justice to what people with different political persuasions have called unfair sentencing laws. The latest round of commutations brings to 774 the number of sentences Obama has shortened, including 590 this year. The White House said it's more than the previous 11 presidents put together.
According to federal court documents, a Utah Highway Patrol trooper pulled over Medina on Aug. 15, 2003, in Ogden. Medina's 15-year-old stepdaughter was in the car, too. The trooper eventually arrested Medina on suspicion of DUI and took him to a UHP station.
A second trooper remained at the scene. The teenager asked to retrieve a black CD case from the trunk that she said was hers. When the trooper searched the container, he found meth, cocaine, rock cocaine, marijuana, and scales, according to the court documents. The teen then denied the container was hers.
The first trooper was radioed at the station. He asked Medina about the container, court records say, and Medina said the case was his. He pleaded guilty in February 2005.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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