(NewsNation) — A former Florida clemency board member is calling for the release of Michael Edwards, who has served 31 years of a 60-year sentence for selling a small amount of cocaine.
Nikki Fried, who served as Florida’s Commissioner of Agriculture from 2019 to 2023 and sat on the state’s four-person Board of Executive Clemency, described Edwards’ continued imprisonment as “a travesty of justice” during a Tuesday interview on NewsNation’s “Banfield.”
“Justice has been served way past served,” Fried said. “This is not a violent person.”
Edwards was sentenced in 1993 after being convicted of selling what was described as “a spoonful of cocaine” to an ex-girlfriend who was working as a police informant. The sentence resulted from Florida’s “three strikes” law, as it was Edwards’ third nonviolent drug offense.
The 60-year sentence with no possibility of parole would keep Edwards imprisoned until 2037, when he would be 74 years old, resulting in a total of 43 years behind bars.
Joe D’Alessandro, the former state attorney whose office prosecuted Edwards, supports clemency.
“Never in my entire career have I looked to reverse anything that I have done, except for Michael Edwards’ case,” D’Alessandro said, pleading for Edwards’ release.
Despite recommendations from the clemency board, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis declined to grant clemency, stating, “I’m not inclined at this time.”
Edwards has been described as a model prisoner during his incarceration and has already reduced his original sentence through good behavior.
Fried explained that for Edwards to receive another chance at clemency, his family would need to file another petition and a clemency board member would need to invoke “Rule 17” to expedite the case, bypassing a yearslong backlog in Florida’s clemency system.