Former President Donald Trump made a number of controversial pardons and commutations on his way out the door in 2021, but one that has flown under the radar has been the sentence commutation of Jaime A. Davidson, a New York man who spent decades behind bars after being convicted of murdering a federal law enforcement officer in the early 1990s.
Since his pardon, however, it seems that Davidson has not kept his nose clean.
Independent progressive journalist Judd Legum recently did some digging on Davidson and discovered that he was convicted on domestic violence charges and sentenced this past summer to three months in jail after authorities in Florida accused him of strangling his wife during a domestic dispute.
He was found guilty of battery and domestic abuse, but not guilty of battery by strangulation, Legum’s report states. That charge requires proof that the victim was at risk of “great bodily harm,” he wrote.
What’s more, Legum documents how Davidson circumvented the traditional process for seeking pardons to lobby Trump directly for his release.
In the waning days of Trump’s presidency, Davidson eschewed the Office of the Pardon Attorney and sought relief directly from Trump,” writes Legum. “Davidson’s attorney Betty Schein had deep connections to the Trump White House. Schein and her husband, Alan Futerfas, represented people associated with the Trump Organization, including Donald Trump Jr.”
John Duncan, the prosecutor who secured Davidson’s conviction more than 30 years ago, expressed astonishment that he would be set free shortly after being contacted by the New York Times in 2021.
“If you ask me for a list of people who nobody should give a presidential commutation to, Davidson would pretty much be at the top of the list,” the prosecutor said at the time.
