top of page
May 30, 2023

"Trump grants clemency to former Gary boxer Charles ‘Duke’ Tanner imprisoned for drug crimes"

By Meredith Colias-Pete via Post-Tribune | Oct 22, 2020




An ex-Gary boxer serving a 30-year sentence on federal drug and conspiracy convictions was granted clemency Wednesday by President Donald Trump.


An ex-Gary boxer serving a 30-year sentence on federal drug and conspiracy convictions was granted clemency Wednesday by President Donald Trump.


Tanner said Thursday he found out he was getting released after the prison’s 4 p.m. stand up count Wednesday. After his release, he was taken to a hotel room. Friends later picked him up.


Charles "Duke Got Next" Tanner, right, shown in undated family photo with his son, Charles Tanner III, left. (Troy Bly)


"They came to my cell and said, ‘We gotta take you.’ I said, ‘What’s going on?’ ‘You’re getting an immediate release,’” he said. “I got to say a prayer and praise God.”


Tanner said he was asking a lawyer to petition for a compassionate release due to COVID-19, but the paperwork hadn’t been filed yet. State Sen. Eddie Melton, who knew him growing up, Tanner’s manager Troy Bly and his son C.J., now 18, and others were in the Philadelphia airport, according to a video on Bly’s Facebook page Thursday.


“Make sure that the President knows how grateful I am,” Tanner said in a phone interview. “If you go to my boxing career, the second, third fight (was at the Trump-owned casino) in Gary,” he said. “That’s the same guy giving me my clemency.”


For the time being, Tanner said he was headed to Indianapolis to be closer to his son. He wants to eventually get back in the ring.


“The boxing world needs to watch out, because I still got it,” he said.


When he was arrested, Tanner was an undefeated light heavyweight boxer from Gary who had been in a televised fight on ESPN. Then 24, he was one of the brightest talents to come through Gary’s storied Police Athletic League gym.


Tanner was accused of leading the Renegades, a local gang that trafficked thousands of pounds of crack cocaine and marijuana, and was convicted in 2006 of conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute more than 50 grams of cocaine.


He was originally sentenced to life imprisonment, which was converted to a 30-year sentence. He had served 16 years of the sentence. The U.S. Sentencing Commission changed the amounts of crack cocaine needed for certain terms in 2014, and the change was applied retroactively to Tanner.


He tried for clemency during President Barack Obama’s administration, but that request was denied.


Tanner’s arrest stunned those who knew him as a charming, church-going man many believed had the talent to become a world champion. Tanner, who had no prior criminal record, told FBI agents after his arrest that he had purchased nearly $700,000 worth of cocaine over the summer of 2004 in a series of deals with a supplier who became an FBI informant.


While in prison, Tanner took part in educational courses and completed hundreds of hours of educational programming. He was also part of an 18-month re-entry program that requires recommendation from staff and approval from the warden for participation.


Tanner and four others convicted of drug and financial crimes won presidential clemency, all of them cases that were pushed by prison reform advocate and Trump ally Alice Johnson.


White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Wednesday in a statement that Trump was granting the clemencies “in light of the decisions these individuals have made following their convictions to improve their lives and the lives of others while incarcerated.”


Trump has granted t pardons to 27 people and clemency to 16 others since taking office. Obama, whom Democrat Joe Biden served as vice president, granted pardons to 22 and clemency to one person during his first term in office, according Justice Department data.


Johnson, in an interview, said that she spoke to White House officials about all five of the individual cases and others whose clemency she’s backing during a White House visit last month.


“I’m extremely thankful these clemencies were granted,” said Johnson, a Black woman whose life sentence for a nonviolent drug offense was commuted in 2018 by Trump.


Others receiving clemency are:

  • Lenora Logan, who spent about 20 years in prison for her role in a cocaine conspiracy. During her time in prison, Logan served as a suicide watch companion, a nursing assistant for fellow prisoners in hospice care, and a leader of the praise and worship team. She was also credited with coming to the aid of a Bureau of Prisons nurse who was under assault by an unstable inmate, according to the White House.

  • Rashella Reed, a former Atlanta Public Schools teacher, who spent six years in prison for wire fraud and money laundering, for taking part in a public benefits fraud scheme. Reed used her teaching background to tutor inmates and advance children’s programs while incarcerated.

  • John Bolen, a small business owner who used his boat to transport cocaine from the Bahamas to Florida, was more than 13 years into a sentence of life imprisonment. The White House said Bolen was described by Bureau of Prison officials as a “model inmate.”

  • Curtis McDonald, 70, was a co-conspirator of Johnson’s in a Memphis drug ring. McDonald was about 24 years into a life prison sentence for drug trafficking and money laundering. McDonald maintained employment during his time incarcerated, and completed several education courses.

The Associated Press contributed.





bottom of page