Former President Donald Trump has commuted federal life sentences for Larry Hoover, co-founder of the Gangster Disciples, as part of the First Step Act. But don't count on Hoover being a free man anytime soon; the 73-year-old is still locked up without a release date.
Trump's commutation, announced Wednesday (May 28), applies only to Hoover's federal convictions and does not erase the additional six life sentences stacked on top of an already heavy rap sheet. Federal prosecutors allege that Hoover never stopped leading a national gang network from behind prison walls. This charge again saddled him with an extraordinary and burdensome set of punishments when those were meted out in 1997.
The new argument for Hoover's legal team was that the First Step Act, a bipartisan reform bill enacted in 2018, had opened up yet another front for them to argue that his federal sentence was too severe. They argued that Hoover is no longer a danger to society; they've claimed he's formally rehabilitated and even renounced his gang affiliations.
In a 2022 court filing that has not previously been reported on, Hoover wrote: "I am no longer a member, leader, or participant in any gang, and I denounce and disassociate myself from any gang activity."
His lawyer, Jennifer Bonjean, responded to the commutation. "There has been no effort by the court to consider Mr. Hoover's rehabilitation," she said to the Chicago Tribune. The courts sometimes fail to do the right thing. However, through the incredible work of many advocates and allies who are continuing to amplify Mr. Hoover's voice and with the president also taking the step to bring him justice, we could not be happier to have Mr. Hoover released. Now it's time for the I.D.O.C. to do the right thing."
Though the federal sentence was commuted, Hoover is still facing a hefty 150-to-200-year state sentence for a 1973 Illinois murder. Hoover ordered the killing of William Young, a drug dealer, prosecutors said, an act for which he was convicted and will likely keep him in prison for life.
So, in the end, though Trump's decision may seem like a win for Hoover's backers, it's more symbolic than liberating for now, anyway.
Hoover's case has been a lightning rod for controversy ever since. Still, it has become even more high-profile in recent years as hip-hop giants Kanye West and Drake refocused attention on his cause in December at a "Free Larry Hoover" benefit concert. Held at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum, the show wasn't just a show of unity between two of rap's most prominent names but was a call to action for prison reform.
Kanye was quick to chime in on the news in signature Ye fashion, writing: "WORDS CANT EXPRESS MY GRATITUDE FOR OUR REVOLUTIONARY PRESIDENT FOR FREEING LARRY HOOVER, and DRIZZY DRAKE FOR BEING DISSPONIBLE."
Whether this eventually results in Hoover's release or only in yet another chapter in a long and convoluted story, the country will be talking about sentencing reform and second chances for a while.
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