President Biden granted year-end pardons to six people, including a decorated Army veteran involved in marijuana trafficking 25 years ago and an 80-year-old woman convicted of killing her abusive husband nearly a half-century ago. Among those pardoned were people who volunteered in their communities and mentored young people. This latest set of pardons joins the categorical pardon Biden announced earlier of former inmates convicted of simple marijuana possession, reports the Washington Post. A White House official said Biden "remains committed to providing second chances to individuals who have demonstrated their rehabilitation — something that elected officials on both sides of the aisle, faith leaders, civil rights advocates and law enforcement leaders agree our criminal justice system should offer." At the end of his presidency, former president Trump granted 144 pardons and sentence commutations, with entertainers, politicians from both parties and several well-connected allies among the recipients.
Those pardoned by Biden were Gary Parks Davis, 66, of Yuma, Az. who pleaded guilty to an unlawful cocaine transaction more than 40 years ago; Edward Lincoln De Coito III, 50, of Dublin, Ca., who pleaded guilty to involvement in a marijuana trafficking conspiracy more than 25 years ago; Vincente Ray Flores, 37, of Winters, Ca., who consumed ecstasy and alcohol at 19 while in the military; Beverly Ann Ibn-Tamas, 80, of Columbus, Oh., convicted of second-degree murder for killing her husband. The then-pregnant-33-year-old testified that her husband physically and verbally abused her moments before she shot him; Charlie Byrnes Jackson, 77, of Swansea, S.C., who pleaded guilty to one count of possession and sale of distilled spirits without tax stamps; and John Dix Nock III, 72, of St. Augustine, Fl., pleaded guilty to one count of renting and making for use a place for the purpose of manufacturing marijuana plants.