LACKAWANNA, N.Y. — No one’s going to argue that smuggling marijuana across the border isn’t stupid.
But to get 25 years for something that’s now for the most part decriminalized — that’s where Assemblyman Patrick Burke has a problem.
“I fully recognize that was a crime. He should have been punished for that crime,” Burke said. “But people get less time for murder and rape and violence.”
On Dec. 18, Burke sent a letter to President Joe Biden asking the president to commute the 25-year federal prison sentence of 46-year-old Mohamed Taher of Lackawanna.
Taher has spent the last 11 years behind bars, serving a sentence for running what authorities called a multi-faceted criminal enterprise from 2005-07 that used young female drivers in an effort to evade border agents and smuggle marijuana from Canada into U.S. cities like Chicago, Detroit, and Buffalo.
Burke argues that especially given the non-violent nature of the crime and that marijuana has been decriminalized in Illinois, Michigan, and New York — the states where he sold — that 11 years is sufficient time for the level of his crime.
“A non-violent marijuana dealer should not be in prison for 25 years, period,” Burke said.
While marijuana has been decriminalized in those states, it’s still illegal to smuggle any drugs across the border. Burke acknowledged that, but it still doesn’t alter his stance.
“I don’t care if you’re smuggling dish soap across the border, if you’re smuggling things across the border, that’s a crime,” he said. “He served 11 years in prison for that. That’s not nothing. That’s no small feat.”
It comes amid a wave of clemency by the Biden administration just weeks ahead of the president’s exit from office, with Biden commuting roughly 1,500 sentences and pardoning 39 others on Dec. 12 — the largest single-day act of clemency in modern history.
“Frankly, if President Biden is unwilling to, then I hope President-elect Trump will then consider taking a look at it,” Burke said.
Taher is also the brother of Yasein Taher, a member of the “Lackawanna Six,” a group of men charged with attending an Al-Qaeda terrorist training camp. Burke believes his association with his brother contributed to his severe sentence but hopes it won’t play a factor in commuting the sentence.
