President Trump on Tuesday pardoned two cattle ranchers who were convicted of arson on public lands in 2012 and inspired an armed protest in Oregon in 2016, The Associated Press reports.
The White House announced that Dwight Hammond, 76, and his son Steven Hammond, 49, would be granted full presidential clemency and pardoned from their "overzealous" sentencing. The two men were sentenced to five years in prison in 2015, which the White House called "unjust."
"The evidence at trial regarding the Hammonds' responsibility for the fire was conflicting," read the statement. "The Hammonds are devoted family men, respected contributors to their local community."
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The Hammond case was central to the 2016 occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon. After prosecutors won an appeal to give the Hammonds more jail time in 2015, organizers protested at the refuge, near the Hammond ranch, for more than a month. Demonstrators said the government was overstepping its bounds in federal land ownership, reports the Chicago Tribune, and continued the armed protest until leader Ammon Bundy was arrested during a traffic stop.
"Justice is overdue for Dwight and Steven Hammond," said the White House, noting that they have paid $400,000 to settle the case. The "grossly disproportionate" punishment, continues the statement, makes them "entirely deserving of these grants of executive clemency."
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