While those who were convicted welcomed the president’s action, police organizations say sentences shouldn’t be decreased for anyone who attacks an officer.
CANYON LAKE, Texas — One of the first things President Donald Trump did when he took office was pardon all of the people convicted on charges stemming from Jan. 6, 2021.
Those pardoned include more than a dozen people from South Texas, including Treniss Evans of Canyon Lake.
“My children had to go to school under the Biden, great Biden, Merrick Garland, Matthew Graves administration, under the Department of Justice, with the idea that their dad was charged with or was labeled as a domestic terrorist,” Evans said. “I’m not a terrorist.”
He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge in 2022 and was fined and sentenced to three years of probation and 20 days of intermittent incarceration.
“They sent me to the Federal Detention Center in downtown Houston, Texas,” Evans recalled. “They locked me in the maximum security facility there. They held me in solitary confinement for a four-point misdemeanor, and they put me there on the weekend.”
Arrest documents state that Evans was on a megaphone shouting that he doesn’t support violence and that witnesses saw him take a fireball shot in Nancy Pelosi’s office.
“I just can’t even believe that that’s still the narrative that I was somehow inside of somebody’s personal office,” he recalled. “I went into a conference room. No desks, no chairs, no computers, none of that, a conference table.”
Weston Martinez, mediator and arbitrator for the Jan. 6 defendants, explained that they expected the pardons.
“We’ve been expecting the pardons for a long time,” he said. “We’re very excited about what’s been taking place,” he said. “You know, a lot of these people have been called sedition, and they’ve suffered the public crucifixion. And now people like the January 6th clients… they’re going to now see, begin to see their life put back together.”
For Evans, Trump’s pardon is justice.
“He entered us into a new era that with lawlessness is gone, that the obstruction of justice that happens, that the, immoral, illegal and, byproduct of this, would be, the prosecutions of the American people… persecutions, if you will,” he said. “We have now been freed. We’ve been restored. Liberty is home because daddy’s home.”
KENS 5 reached out to the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office, the San Antonio Police Department, and the San Antonio Police Officer’s Association (SAPOA) for comment. All agencies declined comment at this time.
But law enforcement across the country, including the Chief of U.S. Capitol Police, are critical of the president’s decision.
“I’ve talked to a few officers, and I know some, some of my leadership team has told me that there’s a lot of officers that are angry,” said Chief J. Thomas Manger in an interview with CBS News. “They’re upset, and I don’t blame them.”
Manger believes the decision could have larger implications later.
“I think it could put any of our communities in danger for anybody that is convicted of a violent crime and then allowed to not, you know, serve their sentence or just be let off the hook,” he said.
The Joint International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) and the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) also released a joint statement regarding the pardons, stating:
“The International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) and the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) have had long standing and positive relationships with both President Trump and President Biden and have greatly appreciated their support of the policing profession. However, the IACP and FOP are deeply discouraged by the recent pardons and commutations granted by both the Biden and Trump Administrations to individuals convicted of killing or assaulting law enforcement officers. The IACP and FOP firmly believe that those convicted of such crimes should serve their full sentences.
Crimes against law enforcement are not just attacks on individuals or public safety — they are attacks on society and undermine the rule of law. Allowing those convicted of these crimes to be released early diminishes accountability and devalues the sacrifices made by courageous law enforcement officers and their families.
When perpetrators of crimes, especially serious crimes, are not held fully accountable, it sends a dangerous message that the consequences for attacking law enforcement are not severe, potentially emboldening others to commit similar acts of violence.
The IACP and FOP call on policymakers, judicial authorities, and community leaders to ensure that justice is upheld by enforcing full sentences, especially in cases involving violence against law enforcement. This approach reaffirms our commitment to the rule of law, public safety, and the protection of those who risk their lives for our communities.”