Parole Board backs sentence cuts for 2

Both inmates convicted of drug counts, say they have turned their lives around

Two inmates convicted of drug charges - one serving a life sentence for selling crack cocaine, the other serving 96 years for manufacturing methamphetamine - have been recommended by a state board for sentence reductions, the board announced Tuesday.

The state Board of Parole’s recommendations on the sentences of Nelson Watson, a 75-year-old inmate at the Cummins Unit in Lincoln County, and Donald Strom, a 55-year-old inmate at the North Central Unit near Calico Rock, will go to Gov. Mike Beebe after a 30-day waiting period.

The governor has the power to shorten sentences and grant pardons under Article 6, Section 18 of the state constitution.

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The board voted 5-0 to recommend both commutations.

Watson was sentenced as a habitual offender in Columbia County in 1993 after being convicted of six counts of manufacture, delivery or possession of crack cocaine and one count of maintaining drug premises.

According to a state Supreme Court ruling upholding the conviction, a woman told police that Watson regularly provided her with crack that she used and supplied to others and that he sold crack to other people.

In his application for a commutation, Watson acknowledged that he had done “criminal things in the past” but said he had not been dealing drugs at the woman’s home.

He said he has completed a substance-abuse course and serves as a mentor to others.

Parole Board member Richard Brown Jr., who interviewed Watson at the prison, wrote on a voting sheet that Watson is a “very nice man.”

Columbia County Sheriff Mike Loe said Tuesday that he would object to a commutation.

“He’s had a history of crime as long as I’ve known him,” Loe said of Watson. “I don’t see him changing.”

Strom, who had previous convictions for robbery and aggravated robbery, was convicted of methamphetamine-related charges in Grant County in two cases in 1998 and 1999.

In his application for a commutation, Strom said he was arrested at his home on methamphetamine charges on Feb. 6, 1998. He bonded out of jail and was arrested again on methamphetamine charges at another house less than threemonths later.

He said he has completed a substance-abuse course and became a counselor in the program, earned his General Educational Development certificate and works as a domestic servant for Warden David White.

“I have a wife and two sons who want and need me in their lives,” Strom wrote.

Parole Board member Joe Peacock wrote that Strom’s sentence was “way excessive” and that White had written a letter in support of the application.

Both inmates have been recommended for clemency before. Then-Gov. Mike Huckabee took no action on theboard’s favorable recommendations for Watson in 2001, 2005 and 2006, and Beebe rejected a board recommendation for him in 2007.

Huckabee took no action on a recommendation for Strom in 2006, and Beebe rejected a recommendation for him in 2008.

Arkansas, Pages 10 on 03/20/2013

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