President Barack Obama has commuted the sentences of two River Parishes men convicted of federal drug offenses, including a man who sold 97 grams of crack cocaine to an undercover drug agent at a Metairie daiquiri shop.

Mervin Spencer, of Hahnville, was sentenced to life in prison in September 2006 on counts of possession with intent to distribute cocaine base and distribution of cocaine base. Prosecutors said he sold crack cocaine to an undercover state trooper in Boutte and at a daiquiri shop on Veterans Memorial Boulevard on separate days in May 2004.

In a sentencing memorandum, Spencer’s federal public defender said that DEA agents had testified in his trial that they specifically enticed him to sell more than 50 grams of crack during the second encounter — a number that would set off what the attorney called “draconian multiple offender provisions.”

Spencer had been convicted in state court of one count of possession with intent to distribute marijuana in 1987 and two counts of cocaine possession in 1990. At his sentencing hearing, Spencer pointed out that none of his convictions were for violent offenses, and he pleaded for mercy, noting that he was 41 years old and had five children.

“I understand I did wrong, and I understand I got to be punished for it, but I don’t feel like I have to be punished for the rest of my life,” Spencer told the judge. “I’m not the type of person to be carrying no pistols to harm nobody.”

U.S. District Judge Ginger Berrigan responded that her hands were tied by mandatory minimums for drug offenders with multiple convictions set by Congress. She also suggested that he should have taken a plea deal.

“I can’t say that I agree with the statute. I don’t. … Congress decides what statutes say, and I can only enforce them,” she said. ‘I’m sorry for you. I think it’s a sad situation, but I think it’s a situation that you put yourself into.”

Berrigan gave Spencer the life term called for by the law, and multiple appeals failed to overturn it. But on Thursday, Obama commuted Spencer’s term to 25 years. The White House did not indicate when that would make him eligible for release.

Obama also commuted the sentence of Wallace Bourgeois Jr., of LaPlace, who was convicted of conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine and of wire fraud in 2010. He had been facing a 20-year sentence. With his presidential commutation, he will be released on Oct. 27, 2018, if he enrolls in residential drug treatment.

Obama has now commuted the sentences of 872 prisoners, more than the past 11 presidents combined, according to the White House.

Many of the clemency grants have gone to nonviolent drug offenders like Spencer, but the White House noted that more widespread changes to the war on drugs can come only through legislation.

“Only Congress can achieve the broader reforms needed to ensure our federal sentencing system operates more fairly and effectively in the service of public safety,” White House Counsel Neil Eggleston said in a statement.

The recent commutations follow on the heels of two others given to New Orleans drug offenders in August.