Another Trump Clemency Recipient Is Accused of Domestic Violence
A man whose life sentence in federal prison was commuted in 2021 by President Donald J. Trump was convicted this spring of a misdemeanor charge of assaulting his wife, the latest example of a Trump clemency beneficiary getting in legal trouble again.
The man, Jaime A. Davidson, was sentenced in Florida to three months behind bars in the domestic violence case. Given the conviction, he could face additional time in federal prison if he is found to have violated the terms of his supervised release after Mr. Trump’s decision, in the final hours of his presidency, to commute Mr. Davidson’s earlier life sentence.
Mr. Davidson was convicted of murder in 1993 on charges that he played a role in planning a robbery that led to the death of an undercover police officer in upstate New York. Mr. Davidson was not at the scene of the robbery, and he has repeatedly proclaimed his innocence and asserted that he was framed.
The commutation was pushed by a lawyer for Mr. Davidson, and was not recommended by the Justice Department process for clemency applications. The lawyer, Bettina Schein, is married to Alan Futerfas, who has represented some of Mr. Trump’s children. Mr. Futerfas was not involved in Mr. Davidson’s clemency request.
It came amid a flurry of almost 120 last-minute grants of clemency by Mr. Trump as he was leaving the White House at the end of his term, raising questions about how thoroughly the recipients had been vetted and how they had used connections to get their requests in front of Mr. Trump.
Some White House officials objected to the clemency grant at the time. And it deeply upset former colleagues of the murdered undercover officer, Wallie Howard Jr., who questioned why Mr. Trump, who has repeatedly professed to support law enforcement, would use his sweeping powers to help someone tied to the murder of a policeman.
The details about Mr. Davidson’s new arrest and conviction, which had not previously received public attention, were reported earlier on Tuesday by Judd Legum of Popular Information, an independent media outlet that distributes a newsletter through Substack.
In the latest case, Mr. Davidson was arrested in April 2023 and accused by the police of trying to strangle his wife during a domestic dispute, according to court documents. In May, he went on trial and was acquitted on two felonies but found guilty of misdemeanor battery, the documents said.
A judge sentenced him to three months in prison. The conviction could also result in other time behind bars on the federal level. He is still on supervised release for his conviction in connection with Officer Howard’s death, and a federal judge is weighing whether to revoke it.
When asked to comment about the latest incident, Karoline Leavitt, a spokeswoman for Mr. Trump, said only, “President Trump believes anyone convicted of a crime should spend time behind bars.”
A lawyer who represented Mr. Davidson in the latest case did not respond to a message seeking comment.
Ms. Schein, in an emailed statement, suggested the facts of Mr. Davidson’s domestic battery case were murkier than they appeared based on the conviction.
“In my opinion, unfortunately people with prior offenses are often easy targets,” she said.
The conviction is another instance in which a recipient of clemency from Mr. Trump is facing renewed legal scrutiny.
Last month, a convicted New York drug dealer named Jonathan Braun was arrested on charges of assaulting his wife on at least two occasions and punching his 75-year-old father-in-law in the head.
In the presidential race, Mr. Trump is trying to portray Vice President Kamala Harris as being soft on crime.
Asked at an August news conference in Florida how granting clemency to violent felons squared with his criticism of Ms. Harris, Mr. Trump maintained that he relied on a “commission” that advised him on pardons and commutations.
In reality, Mr. Trump often made decisions on recommendations from a range of people within his administration and outside it, including allies and people who were paid to push for pardons. His son-in-law Jared Kushner was heavily involved in the process. His daughter Ivanka Trump, who like Mr. Kushner worked in the administration, pushed for a number of clemency grants in the final days.
Several additional recipients of Mr. Trump’s clemency grants have found themselves facing legal trouble since he left office.
Eliyahu Weinstein, who had been serving 24 years for fraud, received a commutation on Mr. Trump’s second-to-last day in office. Mr. Weinstein was charged last year in a new fraud that allegedly cheated at least 150 people out of $35 million.
His trial has been scheduled for November. In denying pretrial release, a federal magistrate judge said Mr. Weinstein “got a get-out-of-jail-free card, essentially, after serving just under eight years.” The magistrate said she had “no confidence that any of the conditions imposed, no matter how stringent, are going to prevent Mr. Weinstein from engaging in fraudulent conduct yet again.”
A pardon wiped away the conviction of the Republican operative Jesse Benton related to an endorsement-buying scheme during the 2012 election. Mr. Benton was sentenced last year to one and a half years in prison for a campaign violation related to the 2016 election — facilitating an illegal contribution from a Russian businessman to help Mr. Trump.
Mr. Trump’s political adviser, Stephen K. Bannon, was pardoned in January 2021 for charges related to fund-raising fraud. A year and a half later, he was convicted on two counts of contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena calling him to testify to the committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. He reported to prison in late June.
Kenneth P. Vogel, Matthew Cullen and Kitty Bennett contributed reporting.