SC prosecutor outraged after Obama cuts drug dealer sentence by almost half

The top prosecutor for Chester County is outraged after President Barack Obama cut the sentence of a convicted drug dealer.

President Obama commuted the sentence of Marcus Emile Franklin, 40, of Chester, who was sentenced in 2006 to 20 years in prison to be followed by 10 years probation for his role in a crack cocaine distribution conspiracy that spanned York and Chester counties.

The case was part of a five-year investigation that convicted eight people and took kilograms of crack cocaine off the street.

Franklin will be released at the end of 2018 and will have to enroll in residential drug treatment, according to a release from the White House.

Although President Obama has come under fire from some for what is perceived as undercutting sentences for drug crimes, the president has said repeatedly that too many drug offenders have received sentences that are too long and that those who have had sentences cut deserve a second chance.

In an online blog statement, White House counsel Neil Eggleston wrote that “the mercy the President has shown his 1,324 clemency recipients exemplify his belief that America is a nation of second chances.”

The continued actions by the president to lessen the sentences of proven drug dealers does not make communities safer, said Randy Newman, 6th Circuit Solicitor and Chester County’s top prosecutor.

“It is unfair to the people of Chester,” Newman said. “Law enforcement spent time -- years -- and taxpayer dollars to work that case and others like it so that drugs and drug dealers would be taken off the street.”

In the past months, four convicted drug dealers from Chester and Lancaster counties have had sentences reduced.

“Every one of these people was a major drug dealer who was convicted,” Newman said.

Those who helped review the cases -- all lawyers who volunteer across the country -- would disagree with any outrage. The Clemency 2014 Project, which led to the commutations, came after negotiations between defense lawyers, federal prosecutors and white house officials, after sentencing guidelines changed, said Chris Wellborn, a Rock Hill defense lawyer who served as a reviewer in many of the federal cases.

Any person who had a sentence reduced had to meet several criteria. They had to have already spent 10 years in prison, have a good prison record, and no ties to gangs, cartels or violence. Several layers of volunteer lawyers reviewed the cases and weeded out thousands who did not qualify, Wellborn said. Cases had to show that a sentence in today's guidelines would likely have been less than when originally sentenced,Wellborn said.

“There is nothing underhanded about any of it,” Wellborn said. “There is nothing to be outraged about.”

When Franklin pleaded guilty in April 2006, federal prosecutors said the arrest of Franklin and seven others in a conspiracy to move kilograms of crack cocaine into Chester and York Counties took five years of work by local, state, and federal police.

Police in Chester were not notified that Franklin’s sentence was cut, said Robert Sprouse, chief deputy of the Chester County Sheriff’s Office.

The 231 sentences shortened by the president late Monday mark the single-most commutations ever in a single day. President Obama has commuted more than 1,000 drug offender sentences -- more than the last 11 presidents combined.

This story was originally published December 21, 2016 at 2:52 PM with the headline "SC prosecutor outraged after Obama cuts drug dealer sentence by almost half."