Obama shaved 3.5 years off a drug dealer's prison sentence to fix a typo

Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images

Obama shaved 3.5 years off a drug dealer's prison sentence to fix a typo
(Image credit: Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)

Cesar Cantu was serving 15 years in prison for money laundering and drug trafficking even though, based solely on his offenses and lack of criminal history, he shouldn't have been put away for nearly that long.

The reason: As the Associated Press notes, a typo in Cantu's pre-sentencing report incorrectly overstated his "base offense level," triggering the lengthier punishment. Cantu didn't catch the error until a couple of years ago, but a judge refused his request to reduce the sentence, saying too much time had passed.

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Jon Terbush

Jon Terbush is an associate editor at TheWeek.com covering politics, sports, and other things he finds interesting. He has previously written for Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, and Business Insider.