Clemency For 3 Hawaii Men

With 330 new cases, President Barack Obama has granted more clemencies than any other president in history.

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On his last full day in office, President Barack Obama commuted the sentences of 330 federal prisoners, including three from Hawaii.

According to the White House, Obama has granted a total of 1,715 commutations — the most by any president in history — as well as 212 pardons, since taking office in 2009.

In his blog post, White House Counsel Neil Eggleston said the “overwhelming majority” of the commutations were granted to those who had been convicted “under outdated and overly harsh drug sentencing laws”

“The president set out to reinvigorate clemency and he has done just that,” Eggleston said.

The final batch of Obama’s clemency came two days after he commuted the 35-year sentence of Chelsea Manning, the Army private convicted of stealing classified documents and leaking them to WikiLeaks, prompting uproar from GOP officials.

Included in Thursday’s clemency list were three Hawaii prisoners who had been convicted of meth-related offenses: Thaddeas Kulani Thomas Hall, of Waipahu; Alfred William Kemfort, of Maui; and Allan Aquino Lafuente, of Kapolei.

The sentences for Hall and Kemfort were shortened and now set to expire on Jan. 19, 2019, while Lafuente’s 25-year sentence was reduced to a 15-year term that expires in 2024.

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