3 Iowa drug offenders among Obama clemency grants

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama commuted the prison sentences Wednesday of 214 people - including three from Iowa - in making the most grants of clemency in a single day since at least 1900, the White House said.

Obama has now granted 562 commutations during his presidency, more than the number by the past nine presidents combined, it said.

The president has worked to reform the U.S. criminal justice system to reduce the number of people serving long, and in many cases life, sentences for drug-related crimes. It is a rare topic on which the Democratic president has support from Republican lawmakers.

Among the 214 announced Wednesday are three Iowa cases:

l David Dean Millard of Grimes. Offenses: conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine; use of communication facility to distribute meth. Sentence in 1996: life imprisonment; 10 years' supervised release. Commutation: Prison term to expire in December.

l Michael Sandmeyer of Rockford. Offenses: possession with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of methamphetamine after having previously been convicted of2 a felony drug offense; felon in possession of a firearm. Sentence in 2003: 240 months' imprisonment; 10 years' supervised release. Commutation: Prison sentence to expire in December.

l Martin Ruiz Singh of Marshalltown. Offenses: conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine; distribution of meth; felon in possession of a firearm. Sentence in 2006: life imprisonment; 10 years' supervised release. Commutation: Prison term commuted to 240 months.

Nationally, many of the convicts were serving time for crack cocaine. For years, crack offenders faced stiffer penalties than powder cocaine offenders, even though the substances are similar on a molecular level. Critics have said the disparity has unfairly harmed minority and poor communities.

In 2014, Obama announced the most ambitious clemency program in 40 years, inviting thousands of drug offenders and other convicts to seek early release. But the program, which automatically expires when Obama leaves office in January, has struggled under a flood of unprocessed cases.

'Our work is far from finished,” said White House counsel Neil Eggleston. 'While we continue to work to act on as many clemency applications as possible, only legislation can bring about lasting change to the federal system.”

Reuters contributed to this report.