Jesse Webster

Jesse Webster began a job at a local car wash as a teenager, first after school and on weekends, and then full-time. In 1985, one of Jesse's customers, a drug dealer, offered her a job as a driver.[1] Jesse accepted the job, and dropped out of school in the 9th grade. She become more involved in drug trade. She met Archie West in 1985, and subsequently his associates Andre Mitchell, Sam Mitchell, Dino, Reginald Jones and Sherman Randolph. In 1992, West agreed to drive for Webster through 1992 to 1995. Between 1992 and 1995, Jesse and her associates distributed 200 to 300 kilograms of cocaine.[2]

In August 1994, Webster helped arrange to purchase 25 kilograms of cocaine from a drug informant. [3] The deal was abandoned without any drugs changing hands.[4] Webster discovered months later that she was wanted for questioning and she voluntarily turned herself in, and in September 1995 she was indicted.[3] Webster was offered a plea deal if she would agree to work as an informant of a local gang, but Webster declined the offer, saying that she was concerned it would pose a risk to herself and her family.[3] She entered a not guilty plea on September 13, 1995, and on November 30 she was found guilty on 4 counts, including attempt and conspiracy to possess cocaine with intent to distribute and filing false tax returns in 1992 and 1993.[5] The decision was based on the testimony of Webster's co-defendants, who had agreed to plea deals in exchange for their testimony.[3] It was Webster's first conviction, and she had no criminal record.[3][6] Webster was sentenced to life without parole by Judge Zagel, which was the minimum mandatory sentence at the time.[1] Zagel explained during sentencing that he felt the sentence was "too high".[1]

Webster entered a motion for a new trial on July 30, 1997, which was declined, and she appealed in 1998, but her sentence was affirmed.[2] Webster filed a petition in 2013 to commute his sentence, with letters of recommendation from her judge, James Zagel, and both his prosecutors. Webster worked with her lawyer, Jessica Ring Amunson to get her sentence commuted by President Barack Obama. This goal was achieved on March 30, 2016, when Obama commuted Webster's sentence to expire on September 26 of that year.[7]

Webster began counselling fellow inmates while in prison, and became a Captain's orderly.[3] She transferred from a high security prison in 2011, to a medium security institution in Greenville, Illinois. In Greenville she earned her GED, and began tutoring other inmates.[3]

Webster has one daughter who is enrolled in a criminal justice program at Kennedy King College, and one grandchild.[3]