Flickr: White House
December 24, 2020, 10:58 am
On his way out of office, Donald Trump is taking advantage of his ability to pardon criminals, which is very useful with the company he keeps. On Wednesday, he pardoned Roger Stone, former campaign strategist Paul Manafort, and his son-in-law’s dad, Charles Kushner.
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Then there was a woman who Trump may have seen being interviewed on Newsmax, the new Fox News.
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Stephanie Mohr was a police officer in the Prince George’s County Police Department who was convicted of a felony civil-rights violation in 2001, Business Insider reports, six years after her crime.
That crime was that Mohr released her K-9 dog on a man named Ricardo Mendez, whose leg was mauled. Mendez was sleeping on a roof where officers were investigating a burglary.
She was sentenced to ten years, and both she and the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund and the National Fraternal Order of Police have been pushing for her pardon. Earlier this month, she was interviewed by Newsmax and that seems to have gotten the president’s attention.
BREAKING: We applaud @realDonaldTrump for pardoning Stephanie Mohr, a former Prince George’s Co. Officer & first female canine handler in the Department’s history.
What happened to Stephanie was unjust & unfair. Thank you, President Trump, for supporting our law enforcement! pic.twitter.com/Sw10OSkSYo
— National Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) (@GLFOP) December 24, 2020
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“She served 10 years in prison for releasing her K-9 partner on a burglary suspect in 1995, resulting in a bite wound requiring ten stitches,” the White House said in a statement. “Officer Mohr was a highly commended member of the police force prior to her prosecution. Today’s action recognizes that service and the lengthy term that Ms. Mohr served in prison.”
Mohr has emphasized that Mendez received only ten stitches for his wounds and insists she was a scapegoat because her department was under investigation for brutality and no evidence of it could be found.
A story from The Washington Post at the time says that the department and Mohr, in particular, had been accused of excessive force especially in regards to their K-9 unit:
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A teenager testified for the government that in 1997, Mohr, who was tracking a burglary suspect, released her police dog to attack him while he slept in a hammock. A woman testified that Mohr threatened to set her dog on the woman’s “black ass” while officers searched her home for her brother, a parole violator. The teenager and the woman are black; Mohr is white.
Mohr is obviously relieved to have the pardon, saying, “I got 10 years, basically one year for every stitch that the suspect received on his calf.”
*First Published: December 24, 2020, 10:58 am
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