Biden announced the pardons ahead of the new year, marking the third time this year that the president has used his clemency power.

The US president pardoned Beverly Ann Ibn-Tamas, an 80-year-old Columbus woman who was convicted decades ago of killing her husband. Ibn-Tamas was 33 at the time and pregnant, and she testified that her husband physically and verbally abused her and had assaulted her moments before she shot him.

The White House noted that during her trial, the court would not allow an expert to testify about battered woman syndrome and the effects of domestic violence.

Ibn-Tamas was sentenced to one to five years in jail. Her case has been studied as an example of battered woman syndrome.

“President Biden believes America is a nation of second chances, and that offering meaningful opportunities for redemption and rehabilitation empowers those who have been incarcerated to become productive, law-abiding members of society,” a White House official said, adding that second chances for those who have demonstrated their rehabilitation should be an area of bipartisan agreement.

He previously pardoned three individuals in April, as well as thousands of individuals in October who were convicted of simple marijuana possession.

Pll/lam/adr