A 78-year-old drug dealer from Chicago sentenced to life in prison will be free in a year thanks to a commutation from President Barack Obama.
Obama on Wednesday commuted the sentences of 214 convicts, five of them from the Chicago area. That brings the number of sentences he has commuted to 562, more than the previous nine presidents combined.
White House counsel Neil Eggleston said the new commutations involved men and women imprisoned under outdated or unduly harsh sentencing laws.
The 78-year-old inmate, Martin Souza, was sentenced in 1999 in federal court in Ohio, records show. He was given a life term due to the large amount of cocaine involved in his case and his two earlier felony drug convictions, according to court records.
Souza represented himself at trial and later argued unsuccessfully that his standby counsel was ineffective, records show. He is imprisoned in California and scheduled to be released Aug. 3, 2017..
The other commutations involving Chicago-area inmates:
*Kenneth Choice, 46, of Chicago, who was sentenced in 1999 to life in a case involving the Traveling Vice Lords street gang’s multimillion-dollar heroin and cocaine operation on the West Side. Choice’s term will end Dec. 1.
He was convicted in federal court in Chicago. After sentencing, his term was cut to 27 years, putting him on track for release in 2020. He is in prison in Terre Haute, Ind.
*Will A. Goines Jr., 36, of Chicago, who was convicted in 2010 in the Central District of Illinois for distributing crack cocaine. Given a 20-year term, Goines had been expected to be out in 2026. His term was cut to 10 years.
*Bobbie Jo Diers, 46, of Romeoville, who was sentenced on crack cocaine charges in 2010 in the Central District of Illinois.
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She got 20 years and her projected release date had been in 2026. She will be released two years from now if she enrolls in drug treatment in prison.
*Mark Anthony Clark, 54, of Rockford, who was sentenced in Texas to life in prison in 1995.
He was convicted in a drug conspiracy for possessing a firearm, methamphetamines and amphetamines. His term was cut to 30 years in prison. Clark is behind bars in Florida.
Twitter @KatherineSkiba