By AP
Oklahoma City, OK – Okla. governor rejects inmate's commutation
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) Gov. Mary Fallin has denied a request for a commutation of a 61-year-old Oklahoma inmate who is serving a life-without-parole sentence for drug trafficking.
Fallin's office announced Tuesday that Fallin had denied the request from Larry Yarbrough. Yarbrough has served 17 years in prison for a conviction in Kingfisher County of trafficking in illegal drugs after former felony convictions.
The Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board voted 3-2 in August in favor of commuting Yarbrough's sentence, which would have made him eligible for parole within a year.
Several Yarbrough supporters have said his sentence is excessive and call him a poster child for reducing prison sentences of nonviolent offenders to save tax dollars and to reduce incarceration rates.
Oklahoma's overall incarceration rate ranks third in the nation.