For each of the pardons, White House officials stressed that Mr. Biden was issuing them to people who had served their sentences and become upstanding members of their communities. The latest cases fit a broader pattern for the president when it comes to criminal justice reform. After championing the 1994 crime bill, which led to mass incarceration, he has cautiously embraced leniency for nonviolent drug offenders.
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Five of the pardons granted on Friday were related to the sale of drugs or alcohol. Their recipients were: Gary Parks Davis, 66, of Yuma, Ariz., who facilitated a cocaine sale at age 22; Edward Lincoln De Coito III, 50, of Dublin, Calif., who was convicted of involvement in marijuana trafficking at 23; Vincente Ray Flores, 37, of Winters, Calif., who consumed ecstasy and alcohol when he was 19 and serving in the military; Charlie Byrnes Jackson, 77, of Swansea, S.C., who sold whiskey without a required tax stamp when he was 18; and John Dix Nock III, 72, of St. Augustine, Fla., who pleaded guilty to one count related to marijuana manufacturing 27 years ago.
Mr. Davis has owned a landscaping business and volunteered with several civic organizations. Mr. De Coito served in the military before his offense and became an electrician and a pilot after his release. Mr. Flores remains on active duty in the Air Force, where he was honored with several medals and awards, and volunteers for causes including cancer research. Mr. Jackson, an active member of his church for decades, used his carpentry skills to repair buildings in his community. Mr. Nock is a general contractor and organizes an annual fishing tournament to benefit young men with troubled upbringings.
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“I’m just really happy to see my dad happy,” Mr. Nock’s daughter, Annie Nock, said when reached by telephone on Friday. “It’s a lot to process.”
Mr. Nock said the Biden administration had called him on Wednesday to tell him about the pardon. “Wednesday night, I broke down and cried and hyperventilated and that’s not like me,” Mr. Nock said. “I had no idea I felt that way.”
