Barack Obama

South Florida Woman's Life Sentence Commuted by President Obama

A South Florida woman who was sentenced to life in prison on a drug conviction had her sentence commuted by President Barack Obama.

Valerie Bozeman, 48, has already served 22 years in federal prison following her conviction in 1993, but now she's set to be released on July 28.

"Thank you Jesus," mother Nancy Bozeman said of the president's decision to free the Pompano Beach woman.

According to Nancy Bozeman, back in the early 90's her daughter was admitted to a substance abuse center to help her with her drug addiction. Instead of getting the help she desperately needed, she was arrested.

"I was so angry," Nancy Bozeman said.

Bozeman said her daughter got caught up in a bad crowd and was linked to a conspiracy involving about 165 pounds of cocaine.

For years, her attorneys filed appeals which were rejected by the courts, but her mother never gave up hope in the system and God.

"I just trust in him with all my heart and my soul and all my faith," Nancy Bozeman said. "And the same judge that put her, the same judge worked it for her to get out."

U.S. District Judge Ursula Ungaro, who had presided over Valerie Bozeman's sentencing, supported her early release. Ungaro released a statement thanking the president as well as the federal public defender's office for working to rectify a wrong.

"I want to wish [Valerie Bozeman] well as she sets out to reclaim her family and establish herself as a productive, law abiding member of her community," Ungaro said.

Meanwhile, the Bozeman family is grateful top the president.

"I could've been gone where I would never see my child no more, she could have been gone," Nancy Bozeman said. But he's bringing us back together again, thank God."

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