Hochul grants clemency to East Patchogue man serving 37 years for drug conviction 

An East Patchogue man, one of only six people in the state serving a prison sentence of more than 35 years for nonviolent drug offenses, will be eligible for parole in October after Gov. Kathy Hochul commuted much of his remaining term on Friday. 

Joaquin Winfield could be formally released from prison before year's end, his attorney said.

Winfield, 58, has served 26 years of his 37.5-year sentence after he was convicted of selling and possessing cocaine. His sentence is the longest in the state for crimes of that nature.

He was one of seven people granted clemency by Hochul on Friday.

Winfield’s original sentence, imposed by a Suffolk judge in 1997 under the now-repealed Rockefeller Drug Laws — which harshly punished narcotics crimes — would not have allowed him to go before the Parole Board until 2034. Under current sentencing guidelines, his attorney said, Winfield would have already been released from prison.

Kathryn Miller, co-director of the Cardozo Law School Criminal Defense Clinic, which advocated for the commutation, said Winfield was the victim of a false narrative that he was a "drug kingpin." 

"He's a Black and indigenous man who grew up in impoverished circumstances and was trying to do the best he could," Miller said. "He didn't have any family wealth. And so when he ran into a situation, and was having difficulty paying for college; having difficulty supporting his family that he was trying to build, he decided to turn to drug dealing as a way to enhance his income. And he certainly regrets that decision. It's a much more typical story of how people end up incarcerated for long periods of time for drug crimes."

Efforts to reach Winfield's family were not successful.

Of the seven granted clemency Friday, Hochul pardoned five people facing immigration consequences for their crimes, and commuted, or shortened the sentence, of two others.

"It is my responsibility to exercise the power of clemency to show that change and redemption are possible," Hochul said in a statement. "I am proud that we have dedicated the resources necessary to begin to grant clemency on a rolling basis."

East Meadow man pardoned

Among those pardoned Friday were Gerson Ramirez, 36, of East Meadow, who was convicted of aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle and aggravated DWI in 2009, and driving while ability impaired by alcohol, driving without a license and driving without a seat belt in 2004. 

Since his most recent conviction, state officials said, Ramirez has earned a college degree and maintained employment at a restaurant for more than 10 years, first as a waiter and now as the manager.

A pardon, officials said, will help Ramirez avoid the threat of deportation and remain in the country with his wife and infant child. Ramirez was born in Costa Rica and brought to the United States when he was about 18 months old, state officials said.

Messages left with Ramirez and his family members were not returned.

Records show Winfield had a tumultuous childhood. His father was killed by police when he was 2 years old, and four years later, his brothers were removed from his mother's care and placed in a group home in the Bronx. Several years later, his mother was arrested and charged with assault in the shooting of her boyfriend.

Years later, Winfield enrolled in college but was forced to drop out because he could not afford the tuition, the clinic said. To pay back his student loans and help support his growing family — his then-girlfriend was pregnant with twins — Winfield began selling drugs, Miller said.

In 1996, the house Winfield was selling drugs from was raided and he was arrested. Winfield was convicted of criminal sale of a controlled substance, criminal use of drug paraphernalia and criminal possession of a weapon.

While the prosecutor suggested a sentence of 22 years to life, the trial judge departed from the recommendation, imposing a sentence of 37.5 years to life behind bars.

"With the hindsight of today, we know that incarceration is not a good solution for communities that rely on drug sales that are otherwise economically downtrodden," Miller said. "I think the governor was able to review this case with a modern eye and understand that Mr. Winfield had been unfairly singled out and given an inappropriately long sentence."

With Yancey Roy

By Robert Brodsky

robert.brodsky@newsday.com@BrodskyRobert

Robert Brodsky is a breaking news reporter who has worked at Newsday since 2011. He is a Queens College and American University alum.