KANSAS CITY, Mo. — President Joe Biden commuted a Kansas City, Missouri, man's non-violent drug offense life sentence to 25 years, according to a press release on Friday.
Deondre Cordell Higgins, 48, was sentenced on Aug. 30, 2011, to life imprisonment with no chance of supervised release for conspiracy to distribute 50 grams or more of cocaine and for the distribution of cocaine.
Biden commuted Higgins sentence to 25 years, but left all other components of his sentence in place. Higgins will serve the final two years of his sentence in pre-release custody.
A press release issued by the United States Attorney's Office, Western District of Missouri in 2011 said a federal judge had found Higgins guilty of distributing crack cocaine in Jackson County, Missouri, between Jan. 1, 2005 and Nov. 18, 2008.
The release outlined evidence presented at trial showing Higgins had "hundreds of customers" and that he paid prostitutes who worked for him with crack cocaine.
Higgens continues to serve his sentence at the United States Penitentiary in Terra Haute, Indiana.
In addition to Higgins, Biden granted clemency to 10 others who are "serving unduly long sentences for non-violent drug offenses," according to the release.
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