President Donald Trump’s mass pardoning of more than 1,500 people connected to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol includes at least 30 Coloradans who will either see their convictions wiped out or pending charges dropped.
Trump announced the pardons and commutations late Monday, hours after his inauguration in Washington, D.C.
“This proclamation ends a grave national injustice that has been perpetrated upon the American people over the last four years and begins a process of national reconciliation,” Trump wrote.
The president described those charged and convicted in the Jan. 6 riot as “hostages” as he signed the paperwork in the Oval Office.
The proclamation directs the U.S. Attorney General to dismiss all pending indictments and immediately release people imprisoned in connection with the riot. That will include those convicted of seditious conspiracy and assaulting police officers as lawmakers met to certify former President Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory.
More than half of the Colorado residents charged in the U.S. Capitol riot pleaded guilty to lesser charges and were sentenced to prison or probation, according to court records. Six people still have pending cases.
Current or former Coloradans who will be pardoned or have charges dropped:
- Jonathan “Duke” Valentour and Joseph Valentour, of Boulder;
- Jeffrey P. Sabol, of Kittredge;
- Matthew James Melsen, of Wheat Ridge;
- Jonathan David Grace, of Colorado Springs;
- Eric Zeis, of Monument, and Justin Schulze, of Colorado Springs;
- David Tyner and Christian Tyner, of Highlands Ranch;
- Todd Branden Casey, of Denver;
- Isaiah Farnsworth, of Broomfield;
- Dusty Higgins, of Grand Junction;
- Cleveland Grover Meredith Jr.;
- Jacob Travis Clark, of Colorado Springs;
- Rebecca Lavrenz, of Falcon;
- Patrick Montgomery, of Littleton;
- Tyler Earl Ethridge, of Colorado Springs;
- Avery MacCracken, of Telluride;
- Hunter Palm;
- Robert Gieswein, of Woodland Park;
- Thomas Patrick Hamner ,of Peyton;
- Daniel Michael Morrissey;
- Logan Grover, of Erie;
- Jennifer Horvath;
- Glenn Wes Lee Croy, of Colorado Springs;
- Timothy Wayne Williams, of Trinidad;
- Klete Keller, of Colorado Springs;
- Rodney Kenneth Milstreed;
- Alexis Bustos;
- Lisa Ann Homer.
Trump’s proclamation also commutes the prison sentences for 14 people connected to the riot.
The pardons were expected after Trump’s yearslong campaign to rewrite the history of the Jan. 6 attack that left more than 100 police officers injured and threatened the peaceful transfer of power.
Yet the scope of the clemency, coming hours after Trump returned to power, still comes as a stunning dismantling of the Justice Department’s effort to hold participants accountable over what has been described as one of the darkest days in the county’s history.
U.S. Rep. Jason Crow, an Aurora Democrat, took to X to denounce the pardon as disrespecting the police “who fought (and) died to protect the Capitol.”
“The rioters brutally beat police officers, threatened the lives of our nation’s leaders (and) attempted to overturn an election. They deserve prison, not a pardon,” Crow writes.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
This is a developing story and may be updated.
Sign up to get crime news sent straight to your inbox each day.
Stay up-to-date with Colorado Politics by signing up for our weekly newsletter, The Spot.
Originally Published:
