I guess sex trafficking, violent assault, gun possession and murder all count as “non-violent drug offenses” in Joe Biden’s America, and crime victims are irrelevant.
In his last days, Biden commuted the sentences of 2,500 federal defendants he claimed were convicted of “non-violent drug offenses, who are serving disproportionately long sentences.”
Biden is either lying or his senior advisors are lying to him.
Biden reduced the sentence of Lairon Graham, 67, a Buffalo man convicted in 2023 of organizing and heading a drug conspiracy to sell fentanyl, crack, cocaine, and heroin.
When police raided his home, they found fentanyl, crack, and cash. He also possessed a firearm in his residence.
In addition to heading up the drug gang, Graham was also convicted of “sex trafficking by force or coercion” from 2013 to 2021.
You see, this “non-violent drug dealer” threatened or beat at least four women in order to force them to engage in commercial sexual activity.
He beat one learning-disabled woman on a daily basis. He had 12 prior convictions. Biden lowered his sentence from 22 years to 12 ½ years.
Biden commuted the sentence of Valentino Shine, 57, convicted in 2019 of five counts of sex trafficking, narcotics sales, and intent to distribute crack cocaine.
He ran a sex trafficking operation out of his Buffalo residence, exploiting at least nine drug-addicted women and coercing them to engage in commercial sex acts. His motto was ”BABI-PAE” — Break a [Expletive] Incorporated; Pimping Ain’t Easy.
Three of the women who worked for Shine died of drug overdoses as a result of their addiction. He would use beatings and drugs to control the women. Biden lowered his sentence from 30 years to 18 years, 4 months.
Jaron Ruth, 32, another Buffalo native, pled guilty in 2019 to selling drugs in Erie and Cattaraugus counties over a period of three years and possessing firearms in furtherance of drug trafficking during that period.
Ruth had been charged with shooting a man in the chest during a burglary of the victim’s home, but that charge was not a part of the plea.
Instead, the judge found at the sentencing hearing that Ruth had “more likely than not” committed the murder and used that crime to enhance his sentence. Biden reduced his sentence from 10 years to 7.
I wonder whether President Biden knew what he was doing when he signed off on these commutations. I’m sure he didn’t read 2,500 memos from his staff.
I have no idea who on his staff recommended these commutations to him, but this follows a long line of practices for the “criminal justice advocates.”
They create a false narrative – “racial injustice”, “disparate sentencing,” “mean-spirited DA’s,” “young people’s lives ruined,” etc., and then enact radical policies while fending off opposition by attacking their opponents as racist. Their real goal is simply to empty the prisons.
The press coverage is taken right from the White House’s press release. The commutations are reported as being for “non-violent drug offenders” and are designed to “end the disparity between sentences for crack and powder cocaine,” providing “deserving individuals the opportunity to return to their families.” Really?!
The United States Attorney’s Office does not normally prosecute 18-year-old kids selling dime bags on the corner. There are almost always aggravating factors – large scale drug operations, sex-trafficking, violence and firearms.
I would bet that there are hundreds and hundreds of other defendants with equally lengthy sentences and horrific records among these 2,500 commutees. These are just three defendants in one of the 94 federal districts across the country.
I’m sure Biden’s radical aides simply ran a computer search of anybody convicted of drugs (ignoring the other charges) and gave him the list to sign.
But this is beyond pathetic. What of the victims, Mr. President? Were they ever notified of these commutations? Were they allowed to give input? Who recommended these defendants to you? Who on earth is advising you on these things?
The Democrat party touts itself as the last best hope for women. How do they square that with the commutations of the sentences of sex traffickers, murderers and drug dealers?
The presidential pardon and commutation power is a constitutional prerogative of the president. But it doesn’t mean it is beyond investigation.
Perhaps Attorney General designee Pam Bondi will look into these commutations when she is confirmed. I hope so. Or perhaps Governor Hochul will look into the New York defendants. I doubt it.
At the sentencing hearing on Lairon Graham, the mother of his (daily beaten) sex trafficking victim spoke. The victim, a 30-year-old, learning-disabled woman, died prior to the sentencing.
At that sentencing, when the court asked her mother if she wanted restitution from the defendant, all she asked for was the money to bury her daughter and put a tombstone on the grave.
Could Biden look her in the eye and tell her what he did for her daughter’s tormentor?
Jim Quinn was executive district attorney in the Queens District Attorney’s Office, where he served for 42 years.
