Trump Gives Clemency to Two Minnesotans in Last-Minute Wave of Pardons

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MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — President Donald Trump has granted clemency to two Minnesota residents convicted of drug charges.

Trump commuted the sentence of Cassandra Ann Kasowski, of Moorhead, who has served more than seven years of an 18-year sentence for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and distribution of a controlled substance. The case involved the transportation of mass quantities of methamphetamine from Texas that was distributed in the Fargo, North Dakota and Moorhead area, federal prosecutors said.

The White House said in a statement that Kasowski, 46, has been an exemplary inmate and has participated in community service programs. Upon her release, she plans to spend time with her son and seek employment, the statement said. Authorities have not said when she will be released.

Trump delivered a full pardon to John Harold Wall, 63, of Prior Lake, who pleaded guilty in 1992 to one federal count of aiding and abetting possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. He has already completed his sentence of five years in prison and four years of supervised release. Prison records show he was released from federal prison in 1996.

Court records show Wall accepted responsibility for his crime. As part of his guilty plea, another count of using a firearm during a drug-trafficking offense was dismissed.

Wall and Kasowski were among several drug offenders cited by Trump in one of his final acts as president. Wall’s pardon was supported by former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, former Minnesota U.S. Attorney Andy Luger and the Office of the Pardon Attorney, the White House said. Kasowski’s commutation was supported by her prison warden.

A full presidential pardon restores any rights a person loses when he or she was convicted, but it does not erase records of the conviction.