President Biden commutes prison sentence for Kentucky man convicted on drug charge
A man from Louisville had several years of his 20-year federal prison sentence commuted on Tuesday as President Joe Biden granted clemency to dozens of people convicted of non-violent drug crimes and issued three pardons, the White House announced Tuesday.
Thomas Perkins, of Louisville, was sentenced in 2008 to 20 years in prison after he admitted guilt in a cocaine distribution conspiracy, according to court records. Perkins is now set to be released on Aug. 24 after Biden commuted his sentence, according to the White House.
Perkins pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine hydrochloride and 50 grams or more of cocaine base, according to the White House. Perkins was part of a 12-person group and his role was to provide the powder cocaine and crack cocaine, according to an indictment.
Perkins was also ordered to spend 10 years on supervised release after getting out of prison, according to court records. That period of probation will remain intact, the White House said.
2 others prosecuted in Kentucky get commuted sentences
Two others who were prosecuted for nonviolent drug crimes in Kentucky also had their sentences commuted by Biden.
Terri Kelly, a Rialto, Calif., resident who was convicted of a trafficking conspiracy in Kentucky, was one of the two others. Kelly, now 61, pleaded guilty in 2009 to taking part in a conspiracy to traffic in methamphetamine in Grant and Pendleton counties.
She admitted she mailed crystal meth from California, where she lived, to Kentucky for someone else involved in the conspiracy to pick up.
Kelly and three others were charged after a federal postal inspector spotted a suspicious package in a mail facility at the airport in northern Kentucky and got a warrant to search the package, which contained meth.
Kelly, who had a prior drug felony, was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
After losing an appeal, she requested compassionate release in 2020, citing her high blood pressure, obesity, a thyroid problem and the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic in prison. Chief U.S. District Judge Danny C. Reeves denied her request in July 2020, saying her health conditions did not meet the criteria for release. She was scheduled to be released in April 2026 prior to Biden’s decision.
Sergio Acosta of Montgomery, Ala., was granted clemency after being convicted on a meth charge. He pleaded guilty to a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine in 2017, according to the White House. Court records say that Acosta was caught with 1,000 grams of methamphetamine in his vehicle during a traffic stop with Kentucky State Police.
Acosta was sentenced to 97 years in prison along with a five-year term of supervised release on Feb. 23, 2018. Acosta’s sentence will now expire on April 26, 2023, but the rest of his sentence will be served in home confinement, according to the White House.
