California Gov. Gavin Newsom granted five pardons to veterans who served in America’s Armed Forces on Monday while also beginning one posthumous pardon process.
The pardons come as America celebrates Veterans Day.
Gubernatorial clemency documents identified the five pardoned service members as:
- Don Archibald: Archibald, who served in the Army and now lives in Georgia, was sentenced to five years in prison in L.A. County for robbery in Oct. 1964. The county Superior Court granted him a Certificate of Rehabilitation in 2010.
- Marcus Page: Page was sentenced to three years of probation and 240 days in jail in San Diego County for transport or sale of a controlled substance in April 1994. The former United States Marine was granted a Certificate of Rehabilitation in 2018 by the San Diego County Superior Court.
- Robert Teagle: Teagle was sentenced in San Bernardino County to three years of probation and 69 days in jail for transport or sale of a controlled substance in Sept. 1981 after serving in the U.S. Army. Now a resident of Utah, Teagle formally submitted an application for clemency and “provided evidence that he is living an upright life and has demonstrated his fitness for restoration of civic rights.”
- Brian Tinney: Tinney was sentenced in San Diego County to five years probation and 90 says in jail for grand theft of property in 1994; his probation was revoked two years later and he was sentenced to a concurrent two-year prison term for being a felon or addict in possession of a firearm. The Navy veteran was granted a Certificate of Rehabilitation in 2018, but due to having multiple felony convictions, he could not get pardoned unless approved by the Board of Parole Hearings, which he eventually was.
- Alex Zonn: Zonn was sentenced in Ventura County to three years probation and 60 days in jail for possessing marijuana for sale in Feb. 1970. A veteran of the United States Air Force, he was granted a Certificate of Rehabilitation in 2018 by the Kern County Superior Court.
A posthumous pardon process was initiated for Sgt. Richard Allen Penry, a recipient of the Medal of Honor.
Sgt. Penry, a native of Petaluma in Sonoma County, served in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War. He was granted his Medal of Honor in 1971 by President Richard Nixon for “extraordinary heroism at the risk of his own life,” Newsom’s office said.
According to the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, Sgt. Penry, who went by the nickname “Butch,” went above and beyond by exhibiting “conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty.”
His Medal of Honor action day was Jan. 31, 1970.
“Sgt. Penry returned from active duty at a time when there were few resources for veterans and little understanding of PTSD,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement. “He struggled with reentry to civilian life and self-medicated through substance use, which was the context for his drug-related convictions.”
A New York Times article states that Penry – whom NYT described as a “war hero” — was arrested on Oct. 4, 1973, for selling $950 worth of cocaine to an undercover police officer. He had made two previous sales to the same undercover officer one month prior to his arrest, the New York Times reported.
While it was not specified when Sgt. Penry died, reports from The Press Democrat indicate he died at a hospital in Sonoma County in 1994 at the age of 45. A cause of death was not mentioned.
Now, three decades after his death and more than half a century after he received his Medal of Honor, Sgt. Penry has a chance at clemency. Since he has more than one felony conviction, he cannot be automatically pardoned by the governor; the California Supreme Court must approve the pardon first.
