Associate Sarah Kettenmann (New York) secured clemency on behalf of a pro bono client of the firm on August 3. President Obama commuted the client’s sentence to expire on December 1, 2016, eight years earlier than the client’s original release date.

Sarah represented the client through the Clemency Project 2014 (CP 2014) and worked with CP 2014 to determine the client’s eligibility for clemency under criteria issued by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of the Pardon Attorney (OPA). She determined that the client met this criteria because the client: was serving a federal sentence in prison and, by operation of law, likely would have received a substantially lower sentence if convicted of the same offense today; was a non-violent, low-level offender with no ties to criminal organizations; had served at least 10 years of the original sentence; had no significant criminal history; had demonstrated good conduct in prison; and had no history of violence prior to or during the current term of imprisonment.

Sarah prepared and submitted a clemency petition to the OPA, after which both the OPA and, ultimately, President Obama, agreed that the client’s sentence should be commuted. The client had been sentenced to 262 months in prison for a drug offense, but would likely have faced less than half of the original sentence if sentenced today for the same offense. 

B&D Principals Pete Anderson (Washington, DC), Dan Krainin (New York), and John Paul (New York) assisted with this representation. Associate Julius Redd (Washington, DC) spearheads and manages the firm’s involvement with CP 2014.

Click here to learn more about CP 2014.