Client of Prof. Murray's Clemency Project Profiled on PBS

As part of its series on the Obama years, PBS NewsHour did a segment on the President’s clemency initiative. The piece included a profile of one of the clients of Professor Murray’s clemency project, Derrin Perkins. Mr. Perkins’ clemency petition was drafted by William Hamilton (’15) and a decision on it is awaited. Mr. Perkins has served almost 26 years of a life sentence imposed under then mandatory guidelines for low-level crack distribution. His offense involved no violence or even the possession of a weapon. Professor Murray and Mr. Hamilton solicited a letter of support from Mr. Perkins’ sentencing judge, and following his review of their petition and accompanying materials, the judge wrote to the President saying that today, he would have imposed a lower term of imprisonment. The letter was shown prominently in the segment.