A Bridgeport man convicted of conspiracy in a brutal double murder that led the state to create a witness protection program has been granted clemency by former President Joe Biden.
Adrian Peeler, 48, was initially sentenced to 25 years in state prison for conspiracy to commit the murder of Karen Clarke and her 8-year-old son, Leroy “BJ” Brown, in January 1999.
Peeler is currently in a federal prison in West Virginia, serving the second of two sentences handed down after the murders — initially a 35-year federal drug sentence that was to run consecutively to the state sentence.
The clemency order states that his federal sentence will expire on Feb. 17. Peeler’s was among nearly 2,500 commutations issued on Jan. 17.
Adrian Peeler’s brother, Russell Peeler, was on trial for a separate murder, and Clarke and Brown were on the state’s witness list, when Adrian Peeler allegedly executed them about a month before they were to testify. He was acquitted of murder and capital felony and convicted on the lesser charge. There was only one witness, The Hartford Courant reported at the time.
According to court documents, Adrian Peeler ambushed Clarke and Brown as they returned to their Bridgeport apartment. Brown was found face-down, shot dead at the top of the stairs. Clarke was found dead in a nearby bedroom, shot while apparently trying to call for help.
Russell Peeler was sentenced to death, then to life in prison when Connecticut abolished the death penalty.
The murders led the state to create a witness protection program under the auspices of the Chief State’s Attorney’s office. Then-Deputy Chief State’s Attorney Christopher Morano, who developed the program — now called the LeRoy Brown, Jr. and Karen Clarke Witness Protection Program — was stunned Tuesday night to learn Adrian Peeler was going to be set free.
“Wow — are you … kidding me? Biden did that?” Morano said. “Where’s the prosecutor screaming and yelling about this?”
But Bridgeport State’s Attorney Joseph Corradino said Tuesday that “he (Peeler) received the maximum sentence in state court and completed it.”
“The Bridgeport State’s Attorney’s Office is not in a position at this time to comment on the federal prosecution. Further questions should be referred to the U.S. Attorney’s Office,” Corradino said.
Pardons and commutations are handled by a special office within the Department of Justice in Washington, not by the local offices. No one could be reached for comment Tuesday night regarding why Peeler’s sentence was commuted.
Morano said it’s unfathomable that no one checked Peeler’s criminal history before issuing him a commutation.
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., who was the state’s attorney general at the time of the murders, also was surprised Tuesday night about the clemency order.
“It seems to me that someone dropped the ball here to let his person get released,” Blumenthal said. “This was a really vicious murder that changed our laws. It also highlights how we need to take a look at the pardon system to see how it can be improved.”
Blumenthal said while presidential pardons are a constitutional right, things such as notifying victims’ families when someone is going to be pardoned could have halted Peeler’s commutation.
“Former President Biden’s clemency for Adrian Peeler is a disgusting miscarriage of justice,” said House Republican Leader Vincent Candelora in a statement. “Peeler’s conviction tied to brutal murders that prompted the creation of Connecticut’s witness protection program makes any leniency — federal or otherwise — utterly indefensible. This reckless act by Joe Biden dismisses the pain of the victims’ families and erodes public trust in the principles of justice. Such a careless decision at the close of his term should generate outrage here and throughout the nation.”
Peeler was sentenced to 25 years in state prison and served until January 2022, when he was turned over to the federal system to serve a 35-year sentence on drug charges. The clemency means he will still have a criminal record but will be set free.
It’s unclear when that will happen. Biden’s order refers to Feb. 17, but it was unclear Tuesday night if that is the date inmates will be released.
In 2022, Peeler sought to have his federal sentence modified in a hearing before Judge Janet Bond Arterton, even though at the time he was serving his state sentence, according to a Connecticut Post story. Peeler was asking to have his federal sentence reduced to the time he had served in state prison.
He argued in court documents that his federal sentence was for dealing drugs, and his lengthy drug sentence should be looked at under the First Step Act. Thousands of federal prisoners across the country applied for sentence reductions under the First Step Act, arguing that too many Americans were imprisoned for nonviolent crimes as a result of the drug war.
But while Arterton lauded Peeler for making progress while in prison, she denied his request to make the federal sentence concurrent to the state one.
“Shockingly missing was an expression of remorse or apology to the families of Miss Clarke and B.J. He didn’t turn around to face them and simply say ‘I’m sorry,’” Arterton said.
This story was originally published by The Connecticut Mirror January 21, 2025.
