ICYMI: President Biden Grants Clemency to Approximately 1,500 Americans, Including Military Veterans, Non-Profit Volunteers, Emergency Responders, and Youth Counselors

On Thursday, President Biden granted clemency to approximately 1,500 Americans - the largest act of clemency in a single day ever - who have demonstrated remorse and rehabilitation as well as a strong commitment to making their communities better.

Americans receiving relief include: a decorated military veteran, a nurse who has led response for a number of natural disasters, a master's student who works as an addiction counselor, a non-profit volunteer with organizations focused on rehabilitation, reentry, and justice-impacted youth, and more.

See below for coverage, as well as key stories of individuals who were granted clemency:

Washington Post: With Biden's pardon, long-awaited joy for Md. man
[Jasmine Hilton, 12/14/24]

Arthur Lawrence Byrd was eating crab cakes and fruit salad with his wife Wednesday evening when the landline phone rang. He got up from the kitchen table, half expecting a telemarketer trying to sell him something. It was the Department of Justice instead.
They were calling with an answer to a prayer he first made long ago, back when Joe Biden was still vice president.

Standing in the bedroom of the home in Clinton, Maryland, where he's lived since 1998, Byrd heard for the first time that the president is granting him a full, unconditional pardon. The news came eight years after he requested the pardon and 35 years after a felony conviction for being a passenger in a stolen car in D.C., he said. He spent 11 months incarcerated for that crime and has not been back to jail since.
…

"I'm forgiven for a mistake I made," Byrd said in an interview. "It's the most beautiful thing in the world."

The New York Times: For Those Granted Clemency by White House, a Moment to Celebrate and Plan
[Tim Arango, 12/12/24]

Among those whose sentences were commuted was Rebecca Parrett, an Arizona woman who now hopes to travel to meet her great-grandchildren for the first time.
….

Like many of those whose sentences were commuted by President Biden on Thursday, Ms. Parrett had been released from prison during the pandemic to serve her sentence on home confinement. While that was a relief, she has lived in constant worry that she would be sent back to prison — and Republican lawmakers had been threatening to do just that, by pushing legislation that would have forced people who had been released to home confinement during the pandemic back behind bars.

Now, Ms. Parrett, who receives Social Security benefits and recently moved into an apartment in Prescott Valley, Ariz., is hoping she can travel to Indiana to celebrate Christmas with her son, who recently had open-heart surgery. She has five great-grandchildren who live in Florida and Indiana and whom she has never met. As soon as she learns the details of her commutation — which could take a few days, her case manager told her — she will be making travel plans.

AP: Biden commutes roughly 1,500 sentences and pardons 39 people in biggest single-day act of clemency
[Colleen Long, 12/12/24]

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is commuting the sentences of roughly 1,500 people who were released from prison and placed on home confinement during the coronavirus pandemic and is pardoning 39 Americans convicted of nonviolent crimes. It's the largest single-day act of clemency in modern history.

The commutations announced Thursday are for people who have served out home confinement sentences for at least one year after they were released. Prisons were uniquely bad for spreading the virus and some inmates were released in part to stop the spread. At one point, 1 in 5 prisoners had COVID-19, according to a tally kept by The Associated Press.

"America was built on the promise of possibility and second chances," Biden said in a statement. "As president, I have the great privilege of extending mercy to people who have demonstrated remorse and rehabilitation, restoring opportunity for Americans to participate in daily life and contribute to their communities, and taking steps to remove sentencing disparities for non-violent offenders, especially those convicted of drug offenses."

FOX: Biden commutes 1,500 jail sentences, grants pardons for 39 others: 'Largest single-day grant of clemency'
[Elizabeth Pritchett, 12/12/24]

The sentences commuted were for inmates placed on home confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic.

President Biden has commuted jail sentences for nearly 1,500 people and granted 39 pardons, marking the largest single-day act of clemency in modern history, the White House announced Thursday morning.

Sentences were commuted for inmates placed on home confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic and who "have successfully reintegrated into their families and communities," according to the announcement. The 39 individuals pardoned were convicted of non-violent crimes, the White House said.

"The President has issued more sentence commutations at this point in his presidency than any of his recent predecessors at the same point in their first terms," White House officials said in a statement.

CNN: Biden announces clemency for around 1,500 people – including pardons for 39 convicted of non-violent crimes
[MJ Lee, 12/12/24]

President Joe Biden announced Thursday that he is commuting the sentences of some 1,500 individuals and pardoning 39 people convicted of non-violent crimes – marking a broad use of the presidential clemency power just weeks from the end of Biden's administration.

White House officials are billing Thursday's move as the biggest single-day act of clemency in modern history. The president, who has come under growing pressure to grant more clemencies before he leaves office, also promised that additional action will be announced in the weeks to come.

"America was built on the promise of possibility and second chances," Biden said in a statement released shortly after CNN reported early Thursday morning on the coming announcement. "As President, I have the great privilege of extending mercy to people who have demonstrated remorse and rehabilitation, restoring opportunity for Americans to participate in daily life and contribute to their communities, and taking steps to remove sentencing disparities for non-violent offenders, especially those convicted of drug offenses."

Louisville Courier Journal: Kentucky man among dozens who earned pardon from President Joe Biden
[Marina Johnson, 12/12/24]

A Kentucky man was among the hundreds of people who were pardoned or had their sentences commuted by President Joe Biden Thursday.

Edwin Allen Jones, 60, of Paducah, was pardoned after entering a guilty plea to non-violent drug offenses in 2002. Jones previously served in the Army, achieving the rank of Captain before being honorably discharged, and has had a notable legal career since serving his sentence, White House officials said in a statement.

According to court documents from a case involving Jones and the Kentucky Bar Association, Jones faced a temporary legal license suspension in June 2003 after being convicted of drug crimes. He faced a 26-month sentence after being found in possession of a small amount of cocaine and failing to report the transaction to authorities and serving around 16 months of his sentence before being placed on probation.

Portland Press Herald: President Biden pardons Augusta man for decades-old crime
[Gillian Graham, 12/13/24]

An Augusta man has been pardoned by President Biden for a non-violent crime he committed more than 25 years ago.

Michael Gary Pelletier, 67, was among the 39 people who received pardons and 1,499 people whose sentences were commuted on Thursday. It was the largest single day of clemency in modern U.S. history, according to the Associated Press.

"I was speechless, kinda choked up and was extremely happy to hear from her," Pelletier told Maine Public in an interview from Florida, where he spends much of his time since retiring.

Pelletier served 14 years on active duty with the Coast Guard, where he participated in more than 790 search and rescue operations and saved 32 lives, according to the White House. He also worked with the Secret Service and received citations and awards for his meritorious service. After he was honorably discharged, he served in the Coast Guard Reserve.

Spectrum News Ohio: Four Ohio veterans included on Biden's pardon list
[Cody Thompson, 12/12/24]

President Joe Biden released the names of 39 people receiving pardons and 1,499 receiving commutations to their sentences Thursday.

Of those 39 pardons, four are listed as from Ohio, according to a release from The White House Briefing Room. All four individuals are military veterans.

The first is Duran Arthur Brown, 44, of Cleveland, Ohio. The White House states the Navy veteran pleaded guilty to a non-violent crime and had his probationary sentence terminated early.