Obama Grants Clemency To 231, Including Seven Oklahomans

President Barack Obama granted clemency to 231 individuals on Monday, including seven Oklahomans.  

Obama granted 153 commutations, bringing the total number of commutations while he’s been in office to 1,176, including 395 life sentences.

Among the Oklahomans on the list were two Tulsans.

Johnny Ray Basham and Lawrence Samuels, Junior.

Both were convicted of drug related crimes and both will have their sentences commuted as of December 2018.

Two men from Oklahoma City, Delmar Anton Ziegler and Steven Blair Speal as well as Daryl Lain Hook from Muldrow and Charles Anthony Perry of Lawton also received commutations on drug-related charges.

Speal was serving a life sentence for a drug conviction in Kansas.

Also on the list was Anthony Dewon Rose of Coffeyville, Kansas who was serving an 188 month sentence for an Oklahoma drug conviction.

And James Randolph Carter, of Wagoner, received a pardon, after he was convicted of possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute in 1991.    

“The 231 individuals granted clemency today have all demonstrated that they are ready to make use — or have already made use — of a second chance,” White House Counsel Neil Eggleston said.

“While each clemency recipient’s story is unique, the common thread of rehabilitation underlies all of them,” he said.