Daniel Gregory
VICTORY
Last night (on November 22, 2021), Judge Dowdell granted Daniel's compassionate release. After 16 years, Daniel is walking out of prison a free man...just in time for Thanksgiving.
Left to Languish in Prison Under a Draconian, Outdated Law that Has Been Changed
Imagine a first-time offender being crushed with 32 years because of a draconian law that forced his sentencing judge to impose a mandatory minimum 32-year federal prison sentence without the possibility of parole even though the judge did not want to impose such a brutal prison term. Spending 32 years in prison is hardly insignificant. So much can happen in the space of a year or two, but 32 years is a lifetime.
Now suppose that after that offender was sentenced, Congress itself recognized that the law was fundamentally flawed and grossly unfair; that is, supposed even Congress thought the law was senseless—so much so that Congress changed the law to rectify the unfairness. But suppose that because of a legal technicality, only offenders who were sentenced after the change in the law could benefit from the new insight, that the law was so extreme and brutal that it had to be changed.
In other words, even though the law had to be changed because it was so unfair if an offender happened to be sentenced before the law was changed, then he must rot in prison, under an outdated law that Congress had to change because of it's undo harshness. But what prompted the change in the law in the first place was people having been buried alive under this shockingly unfair law. Yet those same people must be kept caged simply because they were crushed before Congress realized the law was unfair and served no legitimate purpose.
This is what happened to Daniel Gregory - and he hopes and prays that you sign his petition in support of his request for immediate release under a valid legal avenue designed for such inherently unfair miscarriages of justice.
The Case of Daniel Gregory
Daniel Gregory is 40. He's been in federal prison for 15 years. He's a first-time offender. Daniel Gregory only received a 32-year sentence because of the unfair 924(c) stacking law that the First Step Act (December 2018) recently rectified.
Although the law has been changed, at the time of Daniel Gregory's sentencing, his judge was required to impose a mandatory minimum 32-year sentence. In a powerful speech, Daniel Gregory's sentencing judge himself became emotional when he expressed his outrage over being forced by the law to impose a mandatory minimum 32-year prison sentence, noting, among other things,"I have no choice."
The change in the law, however, is not retroactive, meaning that people who were squashed under this law before the First Step Act, do not benefit. Rather, they must languish in prison despite everyone recognizing the senselessness of the law.
Importantly, had Daniel Gregory been sentenced today, his sentence would be much lower; that is, instead of a mandatory minimum sentence of 32 years, his mandatory minimum sentence would have been 14 years, a difference of 18 years.
But there is good news for Daniel Gregory. In the post-First Step Act world, even though the changes regarding the unfair 924(c) stacking provision are not retroactive, the law allows people like Daniel Gregory to ask for his release using a 3582 motion, which includes a catch-all provision. In other words, if a defendant can show that had he been sentenced today, his sentence would have been lower, the court has the authority to reduce his sentence or grant him immediate release in the name of justice.
There has been a wave of releases under this new avenue of relief.
There is no better candidate for release under this provision than Daniel Gregory. Aside from being a first-time offender, he served honorably in the U.S. Marine Corps and is now a disabled veteran because of his service. And his conduct in prison has been exemplary. His accomplishments and classes completed are much too lengthy to note here. But let's just say he has invested significant time and effort in self-betterment.
He broke the law, and he has been punished. Again, he's been in prison for 15 years and counting. Daniel Gregory should not continue to languish in prison until he is an old man because of a technicality, i.e., because he broke a certain law before Congress discovered how unjust it was and decided to change it.