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The Clemency Project 2014 - Profile Of A Candidate

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Ignatizo "Nat" Giuliano owned and operated the Paddlewheel Queen, a paddleboat restaurant that cruised the intracoastal waterways along Ft. Lauderdale, FL in the 1980s.  He had turned his life around after four drug violations in the 70s, primarily related to possession and distribution of marijuana.  In addition to the business, he was married, had children and settled down.  However, his business needed money so he sought financing from a man who was a nightclub owner in southern Florida, as well as leader of a sophisticated drug operation.

The bust came in October 1990 when Nat and 15 others were arrested, one of whom was a former Broward County Court judge.  By March of the following year, all but three defendants, including Nat, had pleaded guilty in exchange of a lighter sentence.  Nat would be convicted at trial with testimony that came from the leaders of the drug ring.  Those who cooperated received sentences of 3 years or less.  Nat, as a result of the minor offenses years before and because he did not cooperate, was sentenced to Life in prison at the age of 55 years old.  Now 80, and having served over 25 years in prison, Nat is hoping to regain his freedom through the Clemency Project.

In January 2014, Deputy Attorney General James Cole initiated a request to evaluate current federal inmates for a Presidential act of clemency.  The Clemency Project 2014 will look at sentences of inmates to see if the sentences they are serving today would be different under current Federal Sentencing Guidelines.  Lawyers and advocates from around the country signed on to represent these inmates pro bono.  One of those is Jordan Maglich, an attorney for Wiand Guerra King in Tampa, FL.  Maglich, also a Forbes contributor, found out about the project through an email campaign introducing the project and asking for help.  He sat through a series of seminars to come up to speed on the types of cases and the clemency process, then he waited for a case to be matched to him.

The cases for the Clemency Project came from a survey of inmates in the federal prison system where they would put their cases forward for consideration.  Over 35,000 applications were received and a review board considered if the person would quality based on the following criteria:

  • Currently serving a federal prison sentence;
  • Serving  a sentence that, if imposed today, would be substantially shorter;
  • Have a non-violent history (no ties to gangs or organized crime);
  • Have served at least 10 years;
  • Have demonstrated good conduct in prison

Nat passed all of those and he was matched with Maglich in late 2014.  They were complete strangers now brought together with a goal of earning freedom for Nat.  Since then, Maglich has put in the hours to review the case and recently submitted an executive summary to the Project to again screen the case for its merits of receiving clemency.   "I just found out the Clemency Project has approved further efforts to seek clemency for Nat," Maglich told me in an interview. "My next step is to prepare a formal petition for clemency that will go to the Office of the Pardon Attorney with the Department of Justice and hopefully end with a review by President Obama.”

This has been a positive experience for Maglich who has never met Nat in person but has communicated with him by telephone.  "The fundamental question is not about whether or not Nat committed these crimes," Maglich said, "Rather, it is to address a sentencing disparity that has resulted in Nat spending nearly 25 years in federal prison for a crime in which virtually all of his alleged co-conspirators have long been out of prison.  Indeed, if Nat had been sentenced under today’s sentencing guidelines, he would have likely long since been out of prison.  Nat has served his time, he has a loving family that awaits his release with open arms, and he deserves a chance to live the rest of his life as a free man.”

He is also encouraged by the recent actions by President Obama releasing some inmates through the initiatives  of the Project.  "It is an encouraging sign, and I hope that it is the first of many." Maglich said.

Nat is someone who, despite being in federal prison since 1981, has remained in regular contact with his family.  He has taken vocational courses, and he has been a model inmate.  Maglich said of Nat,  "I’ve seen over a dozen letters from his superiors and others supporting his efforts for a release.  Why should he be relegated to the grips of an archaic sentencing regime that is no longer applicable?"

With regard to Nat's family ties, Maglich said,  "He has a family who continues to support him after these decades in prison.  He is not someone who would be set loose on the streets or released to a shelter, rather, he would truly be going home."

Nat is in poor health and is incarcerated at a medium security federal prison is Salters, SC.  His release date is listed as "LIFE."

Two years ago, in an American Civil Liberties profile of inmates doing life, Nat was quoted as saying:

"I am an old man now.  I am not a threat to society.  My co-defendants have been home for years.  All I am asking is to be afforded the dignity to spend the last few years of my life with my family, and to die outside of prison."

Nat's co-defendant, Bill Westcott, was also convicted and sentenced to LIFE.  Westcott is 82 and in the medium federal prison in Jesup, GA.

My thanks and appreciation to Jordan Maglich and many like him who are working for people like Nat on the Clemency Project.