Posted on January 28, 2025

Biden Clemency for ‘Non-Violent’ Inmates Includes Connecticut Child Killer

Michael Ruiz, Fox News, January 23, 2025

aA 48-year-old Connecticut drug kingpin who killed a mother and her 8-year-old son so she wouldn’t testify against his brother has received a commutation as part of former President Joe Biden’s clemency for nearly 2,500 federal inmates he described as “non-violent.”

Adrian Peeler, a Bridgeport drug trafficker, killed a woman named Karen Clarke and her son just weeks before they were supposed to testify against his brother, who was accused of shooting Clarke’s boyfriend in front of the child.

Adrian Peeler

Adrian Peeler

The mother and son were ambushed as they returned home to their apartment in January 1999. Police found the boy with a bullet hole in the back of his head on the stairs and Clarke riddled with gunshot wounds and her outstretched hand inches from a phone, according to CT Post.

Peeler, the alleged shooter, beat the top charge of murder and served 25 years in state prison for conspiracy to commit murder. He also took a plea deal on federal cocaine trafficking charges. After finishing his Connecticut sentence, he was transferred to federal custody to serve more time.

{snip}

On Jan. 17, the White House boasted that Biden had issued more pardons and commutations “than any president in U.S. history.”

{snip}

Even top Democrats seemed surprised by the move.

“It seems to me that someone dropped the ball here to let this person get released,” Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal told CT Post. “This was a really vicious murder that changed our laws. It also highlights how we need to take a look at the pardon system to see how it can be improved.”

{snip}

The list of Biden’s “non-violent” clemency recipients, released separately, included more violent offenders than just Peeler.

Two Virginia men serving life prison sentences in connection with a drug case that left a Sussex County police officer dead in 1998 were also set free.

Ferrone Claiborne and Terence Richardson, known as the “Waverly Two,” both admitted to playing a role in the death of Officer Allen Gibson but were later acquitted of murder at trial due to an apparent lack of evidence. But they were convicted of lesser charges and sentenced to life in prison anyway.

{snip}

Original Article