Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - New York State Assemblyman Pat Burke is asking President Joe Biden for the commutation of a Lackawanna man who is currently behind bars.
46-year-old Mohamed Taher is currently serving a 25-year prison sentence for trafficking marijuana over the U.S.-Canadian border, and selling it in three different states: Michigan, Illinois and New York.
"He's serving 25 years in prison for an exclusive cannabis related crime, a non violent crime, and it's just a shocking sentence. It is not in line with the current sentencing standards, and it's an injustice. This is someone certainly should have paid a price for it was illegal what he was doing at the time," stated Burke in an interview with WBEN. "What's interesting is they he was offered a plea deal of 10 years, and turned it down because it was excessive, which it was, and he's now served past that time in prison. It's just too far. It's outside of any legal standard we should accept."
Burke says his office is currently engaged with the White House, but has not received an official statement or resolution yet.
"The goal so far was to make sure that that they have eyes on it, and so we've accomplished that goal. The next thing is, I think if most people know about this, that's insane. 25 years in prison for that type of crime, that's out of control. I think once people know about it, hopefully it brings some more attention to the issue. But we're up against the clock, and the President has certainly commuted other sentences that I wouldn't have agreed with," stated Burke.
Mohamed is the brother of Yasein Taher, a member of the "Lackawanna Six", charged with attending an al-Qaida terrorist training camp back in 2002.