Oscar Freemond Fowler III, a recurring offender who lately benefited from a federal sentence commutation throughout the closing days of President Biden’s administration, has been re-arrested to face fees on the state stage, Florida Lawyer Normal James Uthmeier introduced on Monday.
“We have now simply apprehended Oscar Fowler, a infamous profession legal whose sentence was commuted by Biden’s autopen, to confront state fees,” Uthmeier shared in a submit on platform X.
He expressed gratitude to the St. Petersburg Police Division and ATF Tampa for his or her function within the arrest, stating, “Our collaboration with native and federal regulation enforcement companions has made Florida a safer place.”
Fowler was beforehand serving a 12-year and 6-month sentence in federal jail following a 2024 responsible plea to fees of being a felon in possession of a firearm and possessing cocaine with the intent to distribute.
Federal prosecutors had advocated for a sentence of at the very least 150 months, citing Fowler’s intensive legal background and arguing that he continued to pose a danger to public security.
Nonetheless, Fowler was amongst over 2,500 inmates whose sentences had been commuted in an govt clemency grant dated January 17, 2025, underneath President Joe Biden’s administration.
A commutation reduces a sentence however doesn’t erase the conviction. Fowler was launched from federal custody consequently.
Fowler, a 48-year-old with a decades-long legal historical past, is ready to be launched from federal jail on Thursday, February 19. Fowler is seen right here from a 2013 reserving photograph. (Pinellas County Jail)
The clemency warrant, issued in Washington and bearing Biden’s signature, was one in every of a number of paperwork critics say had been executed utilizing an autopen.
Fowler’s launch drew scrutiny, significantly from the Oversight Venture, a conservative investigative group.
The group warned Florida officers about Fowler’s launch and argued his legal historical past contradicted claims that the clemency initiative targeted on nonviolent offenders.
Former President Joe Biden spoke to the paper’s reporters in a 10-minute telephone name relating to the rising questions from President Donald Trump and GOP lawmakers in regards to the legality of Biden’s pardons within the closing days of his presidency, which had been principally signed utilizing an autopen. (DOJ/Getty)
“He’s a harmful legal who’s alleged to be in jail for a really very long time,” Oversight Venture President Mike Howell informed Fox Information Digital on the time.
“That is the precise individual that needs to be in federal custody,” he mentioned.
As beforehand reported by Fox Information Digital, courtroom data present Fowler’s legal historical past spans greater than a decade.
Probably the most severe allegations contain the 2013 taking pictures demise of Naykee Bostic in St. Petersburg, which occurred shortly after Fowler was launched from a previous federal sentence.
Former President Joe Biden requested govt privilege because the Home and Senate investigates his administration’s use of an autopen, Fox Digital discovered. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Pictures)
Bostic was discovered with 25 gunshot wounds. Fowler was charged however acquitted in 2017 after two prior mistrials.
A 2024 federal sentencing memorandum cited by critics additionally acknowledged that Fowler made a video-recorded admission to the killing and expressed willingness to make use of violence once more.
These had been assertions prosecutors referenced when in search of an extended sentence in his most up-to-date case.
Fox Information Digital has reached out to the Florida legal professional basic’s workplace for remark.
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