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Two Utahns who are serving lengthy prison sentences in separate drug cases received commutations Thursday in President Barack Obama's final round of clemency grants.
David Andrew Mortensen and Tonya Barney — who were each convicted of possession of methamphetanine with intent to distribute — are both scheduled to be released on Jan. 19, 2019, conditioned on the completion of a drug treatment program in prison.
During his two terms in office, Obama has granted 1,715 commutations, which include 568 life terms, and 212 pardons. Of those, 11 of the commutations and five of the pardons were for people convicted in federal court in Utah.
With Thursday's action, Obama has granted more commutations than any other any other president in the nation's history and more than the past 13 presidents combined, according to White House counsel Neil Eggleston, He said the vast majority of commutation grants were for men and women serving unduly long sentences for drug crimes.
"To the President's 1,715 commutation recipients and 212 pardon recipients — you have been granted a second chance because the President sees the potential in you," Eggleston wrote in a blog. "After reviewing each of your stories, the President concluded that you have taken substantial steps to remedy your past mistakes and that you are deserving of a second chance.
Mortensen, now 56, was arrested in September 2005 after being caught by police with about 65 grams of methamphetamine in a South Salt Lake hotel room. He was sentenced to a minimum mandatory prison term of 20 years after pleading guilty in the case.
Barney, 47, of Ivins — who also is known as Tonya Simpson and Tonya Shook — was pulled over in February 2008 by Washington County Drug Task Force members, who had been told by informants that she was their drug source, according to court records.
A search of Barney's vehicle turned up 56 grams of methamphetamine, the records say. She pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 17 years in prison.
In 2014, the Justice Department announced an initiative to encourage qualified federal inmates to petition to have their sentences commuted by the president. Under the initiative, the department prioritizes clemency applications from inmates who meet all of the following factors:
• They are currently serving a federal sentence in prison and, by operation of law, likely would have received a substantially lower sentence if convicted of the same offenses today;
• They are nonviolent, low-level offenders without significant ties to large-scale criminal organizations, gangs or cartels;
• They have served at least 10 years of their sentence;
• They do not have a significant criminal history;
• They have demonstrated good conduct in prison; and
• They have no history of violence prior to or during their current term of imprisonment.
Twitter: @PamelaMansonSLC