clemency

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Pardoned Rapper Now Rakes in Millions on Tour

Once jailed for gun charges, YoungBoy Never Broke Again is now selling out arenas

(Newser) - YoungBoy Never Broke Again, aka NBA YoungBoy, the rapper who received a pardon from President Trump less than six months ago, is now headlining a sold-out tour expected to gross $70 million. The 26-year-old, whose real name is Kentrell Gaulden, was sentenced in December to nearly two years behind bars...

After 11th-Hour Death Row Save, Inmate Found Unresponsive

Tremane Wood, 46, is recovering after medical scare in his cell

(Newser) - An Oklahoma inmate whose life was spared by the governor just moments before he was to receive a lethal injection on Thursday was later found unresponsive and rushed to receive medical attention, prison officials said. Wood was stable and alert Thursday evening, and prison officials don't suspect foul play....

Oklahoma Board Recommends This Man's Life Be Spared
Governor Spares Inmate
Just Before Execution
UPDATED
Nov 13, 2025 11:45 AM CST

Governor Spares Inmate Just Before Execution

It's only the second time in 7 years that Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt has granted clemency

(Newser) - Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt has spared the life of a death row inmate just before he was set to receive a lethal injection on Thursday, commuting the man's sentence to life in prison without parole. Stitt formally granted clemency to Tremane Wood, 46, who was scheduled to die for...

Man Freed From Prison by Trump Is Making Return Trip

Jonathan Braun, whose sentence Trump commuted, is sentenced to 27 months on sex assault charges

(Newser) - A man whose prison sentence was commuted by President Trump at the tail end of Trump's first term is headed back behind bars. Jonathan Braun, originally convicted of drug trafficking and money laundering in 2011, was sentenced on Monday to 27 months for a string of violent and abusive...

Menendez Brothers' Fight for Freedom Isn't Over Yet

Killers of their parents are pushing for a new trial or clemency

(Newser) - Erik and Lyle Menendez came closer to freedom this week than they have at any time since they were sentenced in 1996 for killing their parents. But they were sent back to their cells after being denied parole by a California board. Their battle to be released from decades of...

MTG Urges Trump to Commute Santos' Sentence

Ex-congressman is serving 7 years for fraud, identity theft; Trump apparently hasn't ruled out commutation

(Newser) - Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is calling on President Trump to commute the sentence of George Santos, the former New York congressman now serving a seven-year sentence for wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. Greene, a vocal Trump ally, posted a letter to the Justice Department on X that argued...

Giuffre Family: What Did Trump Know?

Statement urges president to keep 'monster' Ghislaine Maxwell behind bars

(Newser) - The family of the late Jeffrey Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre is urging President Trump not to pardon Ghislaine Maxwell, warning that any leniency for Epstein's accomplice would be "one of the highest travesties of justice." Maxwell is currently serving a 20-year sentence for her role in...

Trump: 'I'm Allowed' to Pardon Ghislaine Maxwell

Still, president says clemency for sex offender is 'something I have not thought about'

(Newser) - The Justice Department has been meeting with convicted sex offender Ghislaine Maxwell, partner of the late disgraced financier and fellow sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, though her attorney says there've been "no promises yet" of clemency for her from President Trump, who has been tied to Epstein over the...

Menendez Brothers to Appear Before Parole Board

Risk assessments will factor into their bid for clemency, says Gavin Newsom

(Newser) - The Menendez brothers will appear before the California parole board as Gov. Gavin Newsom considers clemency for the pair convicted of murdering their parents in 1989. Newsom said Tuesday that the board would hold separate hearings for Erik and Lyle Menendez, 54 and 57 respectively, on June 13, then issue...

15 Men Are No Longer on Death Row in NC

Gov. Roy Cooper commuted 15 death row sentences on Tuesday

(Newser) - In one of his final acts in office, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper commuted the death sentences of 15 men convicted of murder to life in prison without parole on Tuesday, reducing the state's death row population by more than 10%. Cooper, who was barred from seeking a third...

Biden Grants Clemency to 1.5K in a Day, Sets a Record

Former federal inmates on home confinement granted clemency, 39 others pardoned

(Newser) - President Biden is commuting the sentences of nearly 1,500 former federal inmates placed on home confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic in what the New York Times notes is "the largest grant of clemency by an American president in a single day." Biden made the announcement in a...

Pressure on Biden to Commute All Federal Death Sentences

Some fear the 40 inmates on federal death row risk hanging under Trump

(Newser) - No president has ever issued a mass commutation of federal death sentences, but that's exactly what advocates are asking of President Biden in his final days in office. Several letters asking Biden to commute the sentences of all 40 people on federal death row to life in prison without...

'If Ever There Was a Case for Clemency, This Is It'

Hugh Hurwitz calls for pardons for those on home confinement under CARES Act

(Newser) - As President Biden considers pardons for more perceived targets of President-elect Trump, he should not forget the 1,500 vulnerable former federal inmates on home confinement, who risk returning to prison under Trump. That's according to Hugh Hurwitz, former assistant director at the Bureau of Prisons, who was involved...

Biden Pardons Veterans Convicted 'for Being Themselves'

Thousands were found to have violated repealed military ban on consensual gay sex

(Newser) - President Biden pardoned potentially thousands of former US service members convicted of violating a now-repealed military ban on consensual gay sex, saying Wednesday that he is "righting [a] historic wrong" to clear the way for them to regain lost benefits. Biden's action grants a pardon to service members...

Maryland's Governor Is About to Issue a Mass Pot Pardon

About 100K people will receive clemency for misdemeanor pot possession

(Newser) - Good news for many who've been busted with pot in the state of Maryland: Gov. Wes Moore is set to put out a mass pardon on Monday for more than 175,000 marijuana convictions, forgiving low-level possession charges for about 100,000 people. The Washington Post notes the move...

Missouri Governor Denies Clemency for Brian Dorsey

Prison guards, jurors, and a judge had called for inmate's life to be spared

(Newser) - Despite the chorus of calls to grant clemency to Brian Dorsey, Missouri's Republican Gov. Mike Parson decided not to prevent the execution scheduled for Tuesday. "Governor Parson has chosen to ignore the wealth of information before him showing that Brian Dorsey is uniquely deserving of mercy," Dorsey'...

Attorney for Girl Hurt in Britt Reid Crash in 'Disbelief' Over Clemency

Missouri governor commutes ex-Chiefs assistant coach's sentence, places him on house arrest

(Newser) - Britt Reid was sentenced in November 2022 to three years behind bars, but the former assistant coach for the Kansas City Chiefs just saw that sentence shortened. The Kansas City Star reports that Missouri Gov. Mike Parson commuted the 38-year-old's sentence on Friday, placing him under house arrest until...

Biden Slams 'Failed Approach' to Pot, Clears Path for Pardons

President makes thousands more people eligible to receive pardons for marijuana-related crimes

(Newser) - President Biden is making thousands of people who were convicted of use and simple possession of marijuana on federal lands and in the District of Columbia eligible for pardons, the White House said Friday, in his latest round of executive clemencies meant to rectify racial disparities in the justice system....

Army Aims to Rectify 'Largest Mass Execution' in Its History

More than a century later, soldier convictions related to the 1917 Houston riots are overturned

(Newser) - It was, as the Washington Post reports, "the largest mass execution carried out in the history of the US Army." On Dec. 11, 1917, 13 Buffalo Soldiers were hanged in a military camp near Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas. The African American cavalry soldiers of the...

Governor Slams 'Absurd' Reason for Rebuffing Death-Row Inmates

Louisiana's John Bel Edwards asks pardons board to commute death sentences for 56 prisoners

(Newser) - A mass petition from 56 Louisiana inmates seeking commutations from their death sentences has seemingly made its way to Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards, who this week sent a letter to the state's Board of Pardons to ask for movement on this front. Per the Louisiana Radio Network , the...

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