A southeast Iowa man who’s serving time on drug charges is getting his holiday wish. It’s tradition for the president to grant pardons just before Christmas and on Thursday, President Bush commuted the sentence of 50-year-old Phillip Emmert, of Washington. Emmert was sentenced to 22 years in prison for conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine in 1992.
Now, he’ll be released on parole January 20th. Among the many changes in his life since he was sentenced, Emmert’s become a licensed minister and is a hospice volunteer at the federal prison in Minnesota. Also, his wife was paralyzed from the waist down in a car crash. Emmert’s case marks only the third time President Bush has commuted a sentence.