Pubdate: Thu, 31 Mar 2016
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Copyright: 2016 The Washington Post Company
Contact:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/491
Author: Ann E. Marimow

AT LAST, INMATE TO GET EARLY RELEASE

Byron Lamont McDade had a powerful advocate in his corner. The judge 
who sent him away for more than two decades for his role in a 
Washington-area drug ring personally pleaded McDade's case for early release.

On Wednesday, President Obama responded, and McDade is heading home 
to Maryland this summer - eight years before his prison term was to expire.

"He's already served too long," U.S. District Judge Paul L. Friedman 
said after learning that McDade was among the 61 inmates granted 
relief by the president as part of the administration's effort to 
roll back sentences from the nation's war on drugs.

McDade's relatives and attorneys had been on alert for weeks after 
hearing that the White House was poised to issue another round of 
commutations. They tried not to get overly excited.

"We've been waiting for this for a long time," said McDade's wife, 
Tracey, who lives in Prince George's County.

Her daughter shared the news through tears after reading online that 
McDade, 48, was on president's list. Tracey McDade said she is 
particularly grateful to Friedman, who had tried unsuccessfully in 
recent years to urge the Bureau of Prisons and the White House to 
reduce to 15 years what he said was McDade's "disproportionate" sentence.

"This is Judge Friedman's doing. It's very rare that you get a 
federal judge who keeps on it," she said.

McDade's sister, Jeannie, was working the phones Wednesday, alerting 
family throughout the country and planning a gathering for her big 
brother after his release, scheduled for July 28. She had just sent 
McDade a package of books to supplement the information technology 
classes he attends in prison. Initially, she said, she hopes McDade 
will work with the cleaning business she runs.

"We're going to have to take it one day at a time," said Jeannie 
McDade, who lives in Southern Maryland. "I don't know what we're 
going to do except jump on top of him and tackle him to the ground."

As of Wednesday afternoon, McDade had not yet spoken by phone with 
his wife or sister, they said, because he had run out of his monthly 
allotment of minutes to make calls from the low-security facility 
where he is being held in Pennsylvania.

At the time of his arrest in2000, McDade was a 32-year-old father of 
four with two jobs. His one prior conviction was a misdemeanor gun 
charge for which he paid a $10 fine.

When federal agents came looking for him, McDade fled and was on the 
run for months before turnthe ing himself in.

"It was the dumbest thing I ever did. I didn't know how to deal with 
the situation," McDade said during a 2014 interview with The 
Washington Post at a federal prison in Western Pennsylvania.

McDade was convicted after a 10-day trial in 2002 for his role in 
what was then one of the largest drug conspiracies in the Washington 
area, one that involved more than 750 kilograms of cocaine. One of 
the ringleaders, McDade's friend, had identified him as her 
bookkeeper - a role he denies, while accepting the jury's verdict.

His co-defendants, who cooperated with prosecutors, were out of 
prison in less than eight years. Had McDade pleaded guilty instead of 
going to trial, he probably would have been sentenced to 14 years in 
prison, Friedman said.

McDade's case haunted Friedman from the day he handed down the 
27-year-sentence. He had no choice but to impose the lengthy prison 
term, he said, because of what were then mandatory sentencing guidelines.

McDade's attorneys, who submitted his clemency petition about a year 
ago, said the process took longer than anticipated because of 
opposition from the U.S. attorney's office. Prosecutors objected to 
McDade's early release, according to his lawyers, in part because of 
the amount of drugs involved in the conspiracy.

The U.S. attorney's office does not typically discuss its internal 
recommendations and declined through a spokesman to comment on McDade's case.

McDade's attorneys, Mary and Christopher Davis, received word from 
the pardon attorney's office just before the list was officially 
released Wednesday morning. The office then arranged for McDade to 
talk with his attorneys from prison.

Mary Davis said she had been dreaming about getting such a phone call 
for the past two weeks.

"It's the only dream I will ever have that comes true," she said. 
"You could tell that he was so very thankful."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom