US President Donald Trump commuted on Monday the sentence of Boaz (Ronen) Nachmani, an Israeli-American citizen who in 2015 was convicted of possession of synthetic marijuana with intent to distribute and given a 20-year prison sentence.
Nachmani's sentence of 240 months in prison is the maximum the statute allows for the offense for which he was convicted.
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Nachmani, 41, is married and a father of five. His wife, Silvia, is ill with Stage 4 cancer. His daughter Ariella, 11, wrote a letter to Trump in which she asked the president for help.
"Our lives have become miserable. Now my mother is sick and her condition is getting worse," Ariella told the president, adding that she could not imagine what would happen to her and her siblings if her father remained behind bars.
The White House released a statement on Monday nothing that Nachmani was a "non-violent, first-time offender with no criminal history."
"He has five young children at home and his wife is suffering from terminal cancer. These extenuating circumstances underscore the urgency of his request for clemency," the White House said.
Members of both the Republican and Democratic parties supported his release.
