A Minneapolis man ordered to serve more than 20 years in prison for a 2003 felony drug conviction was one of more than 200 inmates across the country who saw their sentences shortened Wednesday by an executive order.
Keith Ray’s sentence wasn’t set to expire until around 2025. The 40-year-old’s prison term will now end in late 2018, according to the commuted sentence granted him by President Barack Obama.
Ray’s new release date is based on the condition he enroll in a residential drug treatment program.
Ray was one of 214 federal inmates who received commuted sentences from the president Wednesday. That brings the total number of commutations granted by Obama to 562, more than the previous nine presidents combined, according to information provided by the White House.
Of those delivered this week, 67 were to individuals serving life sentences, most for nonviolent drug crimes, the White House reported.
Ray was convicted in federal court in the Northern District of Illinois of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute crack cocaine.
Beginning the previous fall, he began a series of trips between Minneapolis and Chicago with the aim of acquiring crack cocaine in Chicago and bringing it back to Minnesota for sale, according to court records.
The plan was foiled in November 2002 when drug enforcement agents apprehended Ray on a train bound for Minneapolis along with about 2,000 grams of crack cocaine.
A woman was with Ray at the time, and Ray unsuccessfully attempted to pass the drugs to her before agents discovered it.
Both were arrested.
At the time, drug sentencing guidelines for Ray’s crime recommended a 292 to 365 month sentence. Since Ray agreed to cooperate with authorities, he was able reach a plea deal that sent him to prison for 263 months.
In 2007, the Sentencing Commission amended the sentencing guidelines for crack-cocaine related offenses to 235 to 293 months, prompting Ray to unsuccessfully appeal his sentence.
None of his relatives could be reached for comment about his commuted sentence.
Obama reduced the sentence of another Minnesota man in June. Sherman Ray Meirovitz, 76, was to serve a life sentence without parole for his multiple drug offenses, which included trying to buy nearly five pounds of cocaine.
Meirovitz was also convicted of manslaughter in 1983 for the shooting death of his mother-in-law.
He is now to be released in June of 2017.
Obama’s push to lessen the burden on nonviolent drug offenders reflects his long-stated view that the U.S. needs to remedy the consequences of decades of onerous sentencing requirements that put tens of thousands behind bars for far too long.
Obama has used the aggressive pace of his commutations to increase pressure on Congress to pass a broader fix and to call more attention to the issue.