https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/30/us/politics/biden-pardons-drug-offenses.htmlWASHINGTON — President Biden on Friday pardoned six people, most of them for minor drug or alcohol offenses, while also calling attention to trauma inflicted by domestic violence.
Those who received pardons included Beverly Ann Ibn-Tamas, 80, who was convicted of second-degree murder for shooting her abusive husband nearly a half-century ago, when she was pregnant. Ms. Ibn-Tamas, of Columbus, Ohio, testified that her husband had beaten her throughout her pregnancy, including shortly before she shot him.
“During her trial, the court refused to allow expert testimony regarding battered woman syndrome, a psychological condition and pattern of behavior that develops in victims of domestic violence,” a White House statement said. “Ms. Ibn-Tamas’s appeal marked one of the first significant steps toward judicial recognition of battered woman syndrome, and her case has been the subject of numerous academic studies.”
Ms. Ibn-Tamas was sentenced to one to five years’ incarceration. She served approximately four months of her sentence and was released in November 1977, according to the White House. She went on to raise two children as a single mother, and became the nursing director of an Ohio-based health care provider. She still works there as a case manager.
For each of the pardons, White House officials stressed that Mr. Biden was issuing them to people who had served their sentences and become upstanding members of their communities. The latest cases fit a broader pattern for the president when it comes to criminal justice reform. After championing the 1994 crime bill, which led to mass incarceration, he has cautiously embraced leniency for nonviolent drug offenders.
