I got a chance to read Kim Beckstrom's petition for certiorari that another lawyer filed with the Supreme Court in his 2255 claim against Deirdre A. Gorman last year and it was quite clear that something was not right. I specifically recall Kim's new lawyer admitting that he accidentally came into possession of an un-redacted email between Gorman and the prosecutor. The new lawyer said that due to a prior ruling he could not include it in his petition, but the content as he saw it was quite damning. According to Kim and various court documents available online it appears that the redacted email contained a plea offer of 15 years that Gorman never told Beckstrom about. Kim is adamant that had Gorman told him of the offer that he would have taken it rather than go to trial facing a mandatory life sentence for drug possession with intent to distribute. Under the United States Sentencing Guidelines anyone with two prior drug offenses is required to serve a life sentence for a third conviction.
Kim was serving a mandatory life sentence at the United States Penitentiary in Victorville, California when I was his cellmate in 2016. Then, on his last day in office, President Obama finally made good on his campaign slogan "Change We Can Believe In" by changing Kim's sentence to 240 months. That could not have happened to a better person. I know him as a devote Mormon that does not drink or do drugs despite there being not much else to do in prison. He blames dope for ruining his life and he is one of the nicest people I met during my 4 years of incarceration.
I also find it disturbing that the District Court redacted the email. As I recall, reading it was something neither Kim nor his new lawyer were legally allowed to do. I can't think of any legitimate reason to redact such a message. The judge on the other hand did read it of course, but I do not remember if he considered it in his ruling or not.
Learn more about the Obama pardons in the video below. Maybe if Kim had gotten a sex change he would be a free woman by now.