A second chance cut short
Donovan’s life sentence commuted
In 2015, Stephen D. Donovan got a second chance.
When President Barack Obama commuted Donovan’s 1992 life sentence for selling cocaine, the former Oak Creek resident returned to the Milwaukee area.
He reconnected with his family. He got a job. He tried to catch up to all the technological changes that had occurred during his years in federal prison.
“He had a smartphone and I would help him out,” said Donovan’s son, Chad. “I’d show him this is how you get Netflix. But he would still write down phone numbers on a piece of paper.”
On Monday, the day before his 60th birthday, Donovan died of an apparent heart attack at the Milwaukee home he shared with his father and three of his brothers.
Devastated by his death, Donovan’s family was still grateful for the time they had with him after his release from prison, nearly a year and a half.
“We spent some good times together,” Chad Donovan said. “Swimming. Fishing. Dad made the best of his days.”
In 1992, Donovan, his younger brother Vince and two other men were found guilty on six counts of conspiring to possess with intent to distribute more than 5 kilograms of cocaine. Prosecutors said Donovan was a major cocaine dealer in the area and that drug profits were used to finance race cars.
Amid toughened rules put in place during the war on drugs, Donovan met the criteria for a mandatory life sentence. He had two previous felony drug convictions, for marijuana, in state court.
At sentencing, federal Judge J.P. Stadtmueller said it bothered him to send a young man to prison for the rest of his life without parole, according to a Milwaukee Sentinel account.
“It’s unconstitutional to give someone a life sentence for a crime that is nonviolent,” Donovan said at the time. “I’m a scapegoat in this case.”
When he went to prison, Donovan was 35.
He twice unsuccessfully appealed the conviction before applying for clemency.
The appeal was written by Donovan’s brother Vince. During his years in prison, Vince Do- novan spent most of his time in the law library. Vince did not have the same criminal history as his brother and received a shorter sentence, leaving prison in 2006.
Vince Donovan said his brother’s “life sentence was too harsh” and was optimistic the clemency appeal would succeed.
“Normally, they deny them within six months to a year,” he said. “They held on to this petition for three years.”
In 2014, the Obama administration announced it would grant clemency to nonviolent drug offenders. In July 2015, Obama commuted the sentences of 46 federal inmates, including Donovan.
In August 2015, Donovan left federal prison in Pekin, Ill., and went to a halfway house for three months in the Milwaukee area. On the day of his arrival, Donovan’s son, sister and brother were able to greet him and took him out to lunch.
“It was one of the best days ever,” Chad Donovan said.
Donovan got a job working for a rental car agency. His coworkers there knew him as Jeremiah Donovan.
“He adapted fairly well,” Vince Donovan said.
Robert Dvorak, a Milwaukee attorney who volunteered on the clemency appeal, said Donovan’s death shows that “life is short and precious and not to be taken for granted.”
“It’s all very sad,” he said. “I’m grateful to the president who gave him at least some time home.”
Asked if he and his father ever discussed the time spent in prison, Chad Donovan said: “We never touched on that topic too much. There are a lot of stories I’ll never hear now.”
Funeral arrangements are pending. Donovan did not have life insurance and the family has established a GoFundMe page to help pay for the funeral.