Obama grants eight pardons

President Obama has issued pardons to eight people convicted of crimes ranging from conspiracy to distribute marijuana to aiding and abetting the sale of alligator hides.
Here's the latest batch:

Randy Eugene Dyer - Burien, Wash.

Offense: Conspiracy to import marijuana (hashish), conspiracy to remove baggage from the custody and control of the U.S. Customs Service and convey false information concerning an attempt to damage a civil aircraft.

Sentence: June 19, 1975; Western District of Washington; five years in prison and two years of special parole (special parole term subsequently vacated.)

Danny Alonzo Levitz - Angola, Ind.

Offense: Conspiracy.

Sentence: Aug. 18, 1980; Northern District of Indiana; two years of probation, $400 fine.

Michael Ray Neal - Palm Coast, Fla.

Offense: Manufacture, assembly, modification and distribution of equipment for unauthorized decryption of satellite cable programming.

Sentence: May 31, 1991, as amended June 2, 1992; Eastern District of Virginia; six months in prison, three years of supervised release conditioned on six months of home confinement, $2,500 fine.

Edwin Alan North - Wolcottville, Ind.

Offense: Transfer of a firearm without payment of transfer tax.

Sentence: Aug. 18, 1980; Northern District of Indiana; six months of unsupervised probation.

Allen Edward Peratt Sr. - Sioux Falls, S.D.
Offense: Conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine.

Sentence: July 23, 1990, as amended May 29, 1991; District of South Dakota; 30 months in prison, five years of supervised release.

Christine Marie Rossiter - Lincoln, Neb.

Offense: Conspiracy to distribute less than 50 kilograms of marijuana.

Sentence: Oct. 7, 1992; District of Nebraska; three years of probation conditioned on performance of 500 hours of community service.

Patricia Ann Weinzatl - Prentice, Wis.

Offense: Structuring transactions to evade reporting requirements.

Sentence: Aug. 15, 2001; Western District of Wisconsin; three years of probation, $5,000 fine.

Bobby Gerald Wilson - Summerton, S.C.

Offense: Aiding and abetting the possession and sale of illegal American alligator hides.

Sentence: Dec. 19, 1985, as amended May 13, 1986; Southern District of Georgia; three and one-half months in prison, five years of probation conditioned on performance of 300 hours of community service.
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2011/05/obama-grants-eight-pardons/1

:hide:

I think

Right to own guns, right to vote, have certain occupational licenses, etc.

... or your release from prison to apply for a pardon.

I was recently rejected for a pardon because the Pardon Office said my probation sentence was "really" prison.

The good news is that -- to my knowledge and according to NORML and MPP -- these pardons include the first people ever pardoned by any President for any marijuana-related offense.

Planting seeds ....