June 1, 2018
Clemency Letter for Alice Marie Johnson to Donald Trump
May 30, 2018
President Donald Trump
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Re: Clemency for Alice Marie Johnson #14873-076
Dear Mr. President:
We are writing to urge you to grant clemency to Alice Marie Johnson. We join a strong list of supporters for clemency for Alice including U.S. Representatives Steve Cohen (TN), Bennie Thompson (MS), Marc Veasey (TX), retired Deputy Sheriff Randall Wade of Shelby County, Tennessee, the African American Mayors Association, the NAACP chapter of DeSoto County, Mississippi, and numerous religious leaders in Mississippi, Tennessee, and Texas. In addition, BOP officials at the prison where she is incarcerated, FCI Aliceville, including the former Warden, the Captain, her former case manager, and her vocational training instructor, have recommended clemency in her case.Alice is serving her 22nd year of a life without parole sentence in federal prison for her role in a non-violent drug conspiracy – her first ever arrest or conviction, felony or otherwise. Even though Alice was not, by any calculus, a drug kingpin and has never been involved in any type of violent act, mandatory federal sentencing guidelines provided no discretion to her sentencing judge. If sentenced under current laws, not only would Alice not face a mandatory life sentence but, given the 21 years she has already served and her exemplary conduct in prison, she would be eligible for immediate release. Despite facing the harsh reality of dying in prison as a first-time nonviolent drug offender, Alice has an outstanding record of achievement in prison and worked diligently to prove that she is deserving of a second chance at life. Alice has maintained a spotless disciplinary record throughout the 21 years she has been incarcerated and takes full responsibility for her actions. Given her work experience prior to and during her incarceration, the extensive rehabilitative programming she has completed in prison, the unwavering support of her close-knit family, and a detailed release plan that includes concrete offers of employment and housing, she is well-positioned to succeed as a productive citizen if she is released. A 63-year-old grandmother and ordained minister, Alice presents a compelling and appropriate case for clemency. With no parole in the federal system, Alice has essentially been condemned to die in prison as a non-violent drug offender for her very first conviction. Unless Alice is granted clemency, she will spend the rest of her life in prison. Keeping Alice in prison for the rest of her life serves no useful purpose. The two decades Alice has already spent behind bars reflects the seriousness of her conduct. Alice is the first to admit that her crime harmed society. However, Alice has more than paid her debt to society by serving the past 21 years of her life in prison laboring under the dark cloud of dying there.
Clemency from you will literally save her life. Please give her a second chance to become a contributing member of society.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Douglas A. Berman – Professor of Law
Robert J. Watkins/Procter & Gamble Professor of Law
The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law
Sentencing Law Review
Geraldine Downey – Nivens Professor of Humane Letters in Psychology Columbia University
Shon Hopwood – Professor of Law Georgetown University
Marc Morjé Howard – Professor of Government and Law Director, Prisons and Justice Initiative
Georgetown University
Piper Kerman
Author of Orange is the New Black
Mark Osler – Professor of Law
Robert & Marion Short Distinguished Chair University of St. Thomas
Stephen Smith – Professor of Law University of Notre Dame#cut50 (California)
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