Family outraged after man convicted in Connecticut killings gets clemency from Biden in drug case
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Relatives of an 8-year-old boy and his mother who were murdered by a Connecticut drug gang are outraged that a man convicted in the killings was one of nearly 2,500 people whose drug-related prison sentences were commuted by former President Joe Biden in his last days in office.
Adrian Peeler served a 20-year state prison sentence for murder conspiracy in the 1999 shootings of Leroy “B.J.” Brown and his mother, Karen Clarke, in Bridgeport — killings that shocked the city and led to improvements in state witness protection. Prosecutors said Brown and his mother were assassinated to prevent the child from testifying in another murder case.
In December 2021, Peeler finished his state sentence but began serving a 15-year term in federal prison for dealing large amounts of crack cocaine. The federal sentence would have kept him behind bars until 2033. He is now set to be released in July. Clarke’s brother, Oswald Clarke, said the commutation caught his family by surprise and that they were angry and dismayed.
“I’m sick and tired and I’m disgusted,” he told The Associated Press in phone interview Wednesday. “It’s a very shocking thing. My family is very distraught about it. It’s like we’re being traumatized all over again.". It wasn’t immediately clear how Peeler, now 48, came to Biden’s attention, and the former president did not publicly disclose specific reasons for commuting Peeler's federal sentence. Email and social media messages were left with former White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre and current White House spokesperson Harrison Fields.
