A DuPage County man serving a life sentence for conspiracy to distribute marijuana had his sentence commuted Tuesday by President Donald Trump, according to the White House and websites devoted to the man’s cause for clemency.
Craig Cesal, 61, formerly of Lombard, has had his story spotlighted by groups working for marijuana legalization and clemency for nonviolent drug offenders. Before Trump commuted Cesal’s sentence Tuesday, Cesal had been released to home confinement over the summer because of the coronavirus, according to a blog supporting clemency for Cesal and an online petition by his daughter.
“Cesal has had an exemplary disciplinary record and has become a paralegal assistant and a Eucharistic Minister in the Catholic Church to assist and guide other prisoners,” according to a release from the White House. “Upon his release, Mr. Cesal looks forward to reintegrating back into society and to contributing to his community while living with his daughter with whom he has remained close. Mr. Cesal hopes to be a part of her upcoming wedding.”
Cesal had owned a Chicago towing and truck repair business that “retrieved and repaired trucks operated by the Florida- based Sun Hill Trucking Co., whose drivers transported and distributed marijuana in addition to carrying the usual freight,” according to a 2013 statement submitted to the U.S. Senate by the American Civil Liberties Union. “Cesal was arrested in 2002 when he traveled to Georgia to retrieve a rented semi discarded at a recycling center by Sun Hill workers who had transported, offloaded and departed with 2,667 pounds of marijuana from Mexico.”
After his arrest, Cesal pleaded guilty, but violated his plea agreement and didn’t cooperate with authorities, who he told the ACLU wanted him to testify against people he didn’t know. “I was never accused of buying, selling, possessing, or using marijuana — and I didn’t,” Cesal said in an email to the ACLU.
However, as part of his original plea agreement, Cesal admitted he “was part of a conspiracy to transport marijuana from Mexico through Texas into the United States” and “Cesal arranged for drivers to transport the marijuana,” among other aspects of his participation in the conspiracy, according to an appeals court decision in the case.
In a Facebook post Wednesday, a longtime supporter of clemency for Cesal, Cheri Sicard, who runs a Facebook page supporting him, said he told her he felt relief after learning of the commutation.
“He said the first word that comes to mind on finally getting the news that his life sentence for marijuana was commuted was ‘relief,’ ” Sicard said in the post. “He said he is kind of in a daze and feeling a little shocked and lost, but VERY RELIEVED. And he thanks everyone who has been in his corner all these long years. The nightmare is finally OVER!!!”
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