The mother of former Georgia Tech standout and Denver Broncos wide receiver Demaryius Thomas was among 46 nonviolent drug offenders to get their sentences commuted by President Barack Obama on Monday.
Katina Smith was sent to prison for narcotics trafficking in 2000, a crime for which she was supposed to serve 24 years. However, in the largest number of commutations made by a president since the 1960s, Obama reduced that sentence Monday, ordering Smith to be released Nov. 10 — two years earlier than expected.
Smith, 42, was convicted in the Middle District of Georgia on one count of conspiracy to possess cocaine with intent to distribute. She is currently housed at the Tallahassee Federal Correctional Institution in Tallahassee, Fla., according to prison records.
Thomas’ mother was offered and refused a reduced sentence for testifying against her mother, Minnie Pearl Thomas, who was arrested alongside her in 1999 for crack cocaine distribution. Minnie Thomas was reportedly sentenced to life in prison since she was a third-time offender and will remain in prison, where she and Smith have been since Demaryius was 11 years old.
Obama reportedly wrote a personal letter to each of the prisoners whose sentences he commuted, the majority of whom were sentenced to more than 2o years in prison, with 14 sentenced to life. The White House released a video Monday in which the president said their sentences "didn't fit the crime."
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