President Joe Biden granted full pardons to six people on Friday in one of his final acts of 2022 (Picture: Getty Images)
President Joe Biden has pardoned six Americans including a wife who was battered by her husband and several people convicted of drug crimes.
In one of his last acts of the year, Biden on Friday granted full pardons to the six ‘individuals who have served their sentences and have demonstrated a commitment to improving their communities and the lives of those around them’, stated White House Press Assistant Secretary Abdullah Hasan.
They include people who survived domestic abuse, served in the US military and have been volunteering.
Biden pardoned Beverly Ann Ibn-Tamas, 80, of Columbus, Ohio, who was convicted of second-degree murder for slaying her husband. Tamas testified that she was 33 and pregnant when her husband beat and verbally abused her and that he threatened her before she shot him. The court refused to allow expert testimony on battered woman syndrome and she was sentenced to one to five years in prison.
The clemency recipient list includes several people with drug convictions.
Gary Parks Davis, 66, of Yuma, Arizona, pleaded guilty to using a telephone to facilitate an illegal cocaine transaction when he was 22. Davis has since volunteered for a local rotary club and a high school booster club.
Edward Lincoln De Coito III, 50, of Dublin, California, pleaded guilty to a marijuana trafficking conspiracy when he was 23. Before his offense, he ‘honorably served’ in the US Army and reserves and worked as an electrician after his release, according to the White House.
Vicente Ray Flores, 37, of Winters, California, pleaded guilty to consuming ecstasy and alcohol while serving in the military at the age of 19. He has remained on active duty.
Charlie Byrnes Jackson, 77, of Swansea, South Carolina, pleaded guilty to a count of possession and sale of distilled alcohol without tax stamps when he was 18. The carpenter has completed his probation term and renovated church buildings.
John Dix Nock III, 72, of St Augustine, Florida, pleaded guilty to a count of renting a place he owned for growing marijuana plants. Nock, who did not partake in cultivating weed himself, paid the government the value of the home that he rented to his brother.
‘President Biden believes America is a nation of second chances,’ a White House official said, ‘And that offering meaningful opportunities for redemption and rehabilitation empowers those who have been incarcerated to become productive, law-abiding members of society.’
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President Joe Biden granted full pardons to people with murder and drug convictions in one of his last acts of 2022.
