President Biden grants shortened sentence for Gastonia man convicted of cocaine crimes

Julia Coin
·2 min read
3

A Gastonia man charged with having and selling cocaine a decade ago will now get out of jail earlier than expected, thanks to President Joe Biden.

James Michael Barber is among the 11 people whose sentences were shortened after the Biden administration granted them clemency Friday.

The group, from across the country, was serving “unduly long sentences” for non-violent drug offenses, Biden wrote in a news release.

“All of them would have been eligible to receive significantly lower sentences if they were charged with the same offense today,” he wrote in a news release.

The terms of Barber’s release

Barber was arrested in 2013 with 10 others who were accused of selling more than 11 pounds of cocaine and crack cocaine around the Charlotte area.

Barber, who already served most of his 15 years and eight months sentence, will be released from jail in about two months, on Feb. 20, 2024.

He’ll still serve a five-year term of supervised release and “all other components of the sentence.”

Biden’s clemency paired also with a proclamation that will pardon additional offenses of simple possession and use of marijuana under federal and D.C. law.

“Just as no one should be in a federal prison solely due to the use or possession of marijuana, no one should be in a local jail or state prison for that reason, either,” he said.

Marijuana arrests by CMPD

Biden encouraged governors to issue the same proclamation for state offenses and “applaud those who have since taken action.”

Mecklenburg County District Attorney Spencer Merriweather has not prosecuted marijuana and low-level drug offenses since 2020.

Six years ago, CMPD made more than 100 arrests with the only charge being possession of marijuana, according to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department. In 2022, there were 10 arrests for the same singular charge, and in 2023 through November, there were 13.

Police Chief Johnny Jennings provided the stats in a recent op-ed following a viral, controversial arrest of a couple smoking what their lawyer says was legally bought THCA.

“Too many lives have been upended because of our failed approach to marijuana,” Biden wrote Friday. “It’s time that we right these wrongs.”