President Obama Reduces Sentence Of Mpls. Drug Offender

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A Minneapolis man is among 214 people to receive a commuted sentence from President Barack Obama on Wednesday.

Keith Ray was sentenced to nearly 22 years in prison in 2003 for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute crack cocaine in Illinois.

President Obama reduced Ray's sentence by about seven years, and he will now get out of prison in August of 2018.

Ray's release is on the condition that he enrolls into a residential drug treatment program.

All of the 214 people who received commuted sentences Wednesday had been convicted of drug offences.

According to the White House's website, President Obama has commuted sentences for 462 convicts since he took office in 2009.

His seven presidential predecessors only commuted sentences for a combined total of 199 people.