Obama commutes sentences of 2 people from Utah

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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Two people from Utah are among 214 federal inmates who sentences are being shortened by President Barack Obama.

Joe Alvarado of Ogden and Pauline Blake of West Valley City both saw their sentences in drug cases commuted Wednesday.

Alvarado had been serving a life sentence while Blake got more than 24 years in separate methamphetamine cases from 2004.

Alvarado was one of 67 people who saw life sentences commuted.

The judge on his case says the punishment in the nonviolent case didn't fit the crime.

Former judge Paul Cassell says he wrote to the president in February saying he would have given the now 62-year-old Alvarado a maximum of about 12 years in prison, longer than most violent defendants.

HIs is set to be released in August 2018. Blake's release date is in December.