2 Las Vegas drug dealers benefit from Obama’s clemency

Two former Las Vegas drug dealers will be released from prison early as a result of the historic clemency effort that defined former President Barack Obama’s final week in office.

In a parting gift to nonviolent drug offenders across the nation, Obama this week announced two rounds of commutations and pardons. The 330 sentence commutations announced Thursday represent an unprecedented number of clemencies on a single day.

Over the course of his two terms, Obama granted 1,715 clemencies in total, more than any previous U.S. president.

Among those who benefited was Raymond Garcia, a Las Vegas man who was convicted of dealing methamphetamine in 2007 and sentenced to 293 months in prison. Obama on Thursday commuted Garcia’s sentence to expire on May 17, 2017, cutting his time in federal prison by more than 50 percent.

Earlier in the week, Jesse Jackson, a former crack dealer who pleaded guilty to a single drug charge in 2005. Jackson, 26 at the time of his arrest, was sentenced to 262 months in prison. His sentence was commuted to 188 months in prison.

Contact Jenny Wilson at jenwilson@reviewjournal.com or 702-384-8710. Follow @jennydwilson on Twitter.