The Maryland canine officer who pleaded on Newsmax TV for a pardon from President Donald Trump has received her Christmas wish.
The former Prince George's County Police canine officer Stephanie Mohr, convicted in 2001 of a federal Civil Rights violation, served 10 years in prison after her police dog bit a burglar during an arrest in 1995.
"I am incredibly grateful to the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund for standing by my side and never abandoning me," Mohr said in a statement provided by LELDF to Newsmax on Wednesday. "Without LELDF and its donors and loyal supporters, I honestly don't think this pardon would have happened."
Mohr's pardon petition was aided by LELDF President Jason Johnson, and she made an impassioned plea to the president on "John Bachman Now" earlier this month.
"This has been a long, hard slog for Stephanie Mohr, who served her complete sentence of 10 years – one year for each of the 10 stitches it took to heal the wounds on an escaping burglar's leg," said Johnson, a former police officer and Deputy Commissioner, in the release.
"Stephanie lost a decade of her life, she lost her career, she missed her infant son's formative years – all for doing her job, exactly as she was trained," Johnson added. "LELDF is proud to have stood by Stephanie Mohr through appeals, post-conviction motions and, now, her successful application to President Donald Trump."
After a series of newspaper articles about alleged brutality by the Prince George's County Police Department, federal prosecutors indicted Mohr one day before the Statute of Limitations was set to expire on a five-year-old incident during which an undocumented immigrant was caught on the roof of a commercial printing business.
Officer Mohr, who had a 2-year-old son at home, said she was scapegoated to satisfy The Washington Post after an FBI investigation into alleged brutality failed to result in any other convictions. Her first trial acquitted her of one charge and ended in a hung jury on the other, but a second trial brought a conviction and the 10-year sentence.
Mohr said that despite her conviction and incarceration, she and her son remain strong supporters of law enforcement and the police profession.
"Despite this ordeal, Adam intends to pursue a career in law enforcement," Mohr said. "After all he's been through and lost because of what happened to me, I couldn't be prouder of him."
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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