Convicted drug kingpin Carl Anthony Knight got an enormous break three years ago. A judge reduced his life sentence and freed him after he had served close to 22 years in federal prison for running one of the largest-ever illegal drug operations in Erie.

Knight, 52, who was convicted of dealing in crack cocaine, is seeking another big break.

He wants the same judge to put an early end to his five-year term of supervised release, similar to probation.

Knight has served about 60% of his term of supervised release since he walked out of from federal prison on Feb. 1, 2021.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office is opposing Knight’s request, just as it opposed the reduction of his life sentence.

Knight says he has stayed drug-free, and counsels youth

In a court motion, Knight said he has stayed out of trouble since he was released from prison. Knight said he has remained drug-free while he has worked at an Erie manufacturing plant and has counseled at-risk youth.

Knight said he no longer needs to be under the supervision of federal probation officials.

“Petitioner has changed and prays this court would allow him to be totally free for the first time in his adult life,” Knight, representing himself, said in the court motion, filed on Dec. 28.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office responded on Friday.

Knight’s motion should be denied “because Knight’s supervision is helping to keep him on a much better path and remains necessary to protect the public and deter Knight from falling back into his long-tread path of significant criminality,” an assistant U.S. attorney in Pittsburgh, Ross Lenhardt, said in a court filing.

Knight’s request is before Senior U.S. District Judge David S. Cercone. He sentenced Knight to the five-year term of supervised release on Jan. 27, 2021, the same day Cercone reduced Knight’s life sentence to time served and ordered him released from federal prison — a release that occurred about a week later.

Knight got first reprieve under First Step Act

Knight was sentenced to life in U.S. District Court in Erie in 1999. Then 28, he was the first person in Erie sentenced to life for drugs . He was convicted at trial for a conspiracy count related to his role in his crack ring.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office said the operation smuggled crack valued at a total of $20.8 million from New York City to Erie from 1993 to 1997. The government said the amount of drugs equaled 208 kilograms, or 458 pounds.

The presiding judge, Maurice B. Cohill Jr., sentenced Knight under the federal drug kingpin statute, which allows for life sentences in large-scale drug-trafficking cases. Cohill retired in 2016 and died in 2022, and Knight’s case was assigned to Cercone.

Knight won his early release from prison under the First Step Act, the 2018 federal law that allows federal judges to reduce sentences of some defendants convicted of crack-related offenses.

When Knight was sentenced, the length of the federal sentences for crack were much higher than those for offenses related to powder cocaine, with a larger percentage of Black defendants sentenced for crack. The First Step Act and its precursor legislation, the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010, are designed to address the racial disparities for defendants like Knight, who is Black.

In ordering Knight released from prison, Cercone said in a 23-page opinion that Knight had served enough time by spending 21 years and nine months in prison. He said Knight had appeared to be rehabilitated.

Knight’s request for early release from prison also had the support of Erie County Judge John J. Trucilla, who prosecuted Knight as an assistant U.S. attorney.

Trucilla wrote a letter on Knight’s behalf. He said a reduction of the life sentence was warranted partly because the key codefendant in the case, Victor Calderon-Rodriguez, pleaded guilty and cooperated and got eight years in federal prison.

Cercone cited Trucilla’s letter in granting Knight early release under the First Step Act. Knight cited Trucilla’s letter in asking Cercone to end his supervised release early.

Judge also set to rule in another Erie kingpin case

Cercone is dealing with another Erie drug kingpin case as he considers Knight’s new request. Also pending before him is a petition for a reduction of a life sentence from John Cooley, the only other defendant in Erie sentenced to life in a drug case.

Cooley, 67, was sentenced in 2004 and also applied for a sentencing reduction under the First Step Act. He filed his petition in June 2019 — three months before Knight filed his request. Cooley also filed earlier petitions seeking a sentencing break.

All told, Cooley and his family have spent more than seven years to see if Cercone will reduce Cooley’s life sentence and let him out of prison early, just as the judge did in Knight’s case.

The Erie Times-News published a story on Cooley’s case in December. That same day, Cercone said in a court order that he would rule on Cooley’s request “in the near future.”

Contact Ed Palattella at epalattella@timesnews.com. Follow him on X @ETNpalattella.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Convicted Erie drug kingpin, let out early, now wants probation to end