SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - A Utah music producer and state representative who were involved in high-profile criminal cases were pardoned in a series of clemency grants by President Donald Trump.
The president on Tuesday pardoned 15 people and commuted the sentences of five, including a pair of congressional Republicans who were strong and early supporters, a 2016 campaign official ensnared in the Russia probe and former government contractors convicted in a 2007 massacre in Baghdad.
State Rep. Phil Lyman was serving as a Utah county commissioner in 2014 when he led about 50 ATV riders in a protest to Native American cliff dwellings that officials closed to motorized traffic. The ride occurred amid a sputtering movement in the West pushing back against federal control of large swaths of land and came in the wake of an armed confrontation Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy had with Bureau of Land Management over grazing fees.
Lyman spent 10 days in prison and was ordered to pay nearly $96,000 in restitution. The Trump administration in 2017 lifted a ban on motorized vehicles in parts of the canyon. But it left restrictions in place through other areas where Lyman led his ride.
“The false narratives of the media have been so damaging, not only to me but to the truth,” Lyman wrote on Facebook after receiving the pardon. “I am deeply grateful to President Donald Trump. Today he righted a wrong.”
Trump also granted a full pardon to Weldon Angelos, a music producer who was sentenced to 55 years in federal prison for selling marijuana and a gun possession conviction under minimum mandatory sentencing laws. Former President Barack Obama commuted Angelos’ sentence in 2016 after more than a decade behind bars.
“Everything is erased now,” Angelos told The Salt Lake Tribune. “I don’t get back the time and money, but I’m a whole person again. I’m not a felon. I don’t have to check that box on a job application anymore.”
Please read our comment policy before commenting.