Inmate given clemency by Trump had backing of former judge who sentenced him to life
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A federal judge who sentenced a Clarksville, Tennessee, man to life in prison in a drug trafficking case greeted him in person after then-President Donald Trump commuted the sentence in January.
In an airport meeting, U.S. District Judge Kevin Sharp of the Middle District of Tennessee hugged and posed for pictures with 32-year-old Chris Young, whom he had sentenced in 2014 under a mandatory sentence law.
After stepping down from the bench in 2017, Sharp denounced mandatory minimum sentences in an interview with the Tennessean and pointed to one case that particularly troubled him—that of Young. Sharp was required to sentence Young to life in prison under a federal three-strikes law because Young had two prior drug dealing convictions.