Tennessee Republican Governor Bill Lee Friday announced he is pardoning 43 people who have served out their sentences, stressing that his actions are “very different” than President Joe Biden’s recent wave of commutations.
Lee specifically noted that he chose not to shorten any sentences – known as commutations – in his yearly announcement of clemency actions around Christmas. He aimed to distance his approach from Biden’s, saying the people he pardoned in Tennessee have finished their sentences and rejoined their communities, and each had a recommendation from the state Board of Parole.
In Tennessee, a pardon serves as a statement of forgiveness to someone who has completed their prison sentence and are no longer incarcerated, while commutation shortens a sentence but lets the conviction stand. Lee has only issued one exoneration while in office, in which the governor declares that the applicant didn’t commit the crime.
The governor’s office said none of the people he pardoned Friday have had an active criminal sentence for at least five years, including probation or parole.
Below is the full list of individuals who received executive clemency pardons:
Sabrina Myrick Adams
Otto Adkerson
Pamela Amos
Ashley Cooper Barnhill
Erik Bennett
Justin Beshearse
Lanesha Brown
Quanroyas Clendening
Jeffrey Crick
Johnny Drinkard
Lauren Driver
Angelia Laderman Dycus
Jason Hall
Sarah Harrell
Kimberly Holliday
Matthew Hoover
Joshua Hunt
Jonathan Jackson
James Jones
Kathy Keel
Tameka Kirk
Steven Langston
Shantie Martin
Miguel Monzon
Tyree Morgan
Brittany Nepa
Zennia Nesmith
Shirley Parsons
Christopher Prince
Cynthia Ramirez
Stephanie Robertson
Jennifer Rush
Melissa Smith
Thomas Smith
Taylor Stevenson
Robert Turner
Patrick Varni
Jeffrey Victory
Pamela Waller
Janet Watson
Joseph Whitfield
Paul Williams
Tanika Woodard
