Former professional boxer Charles Duke Tanner expressed his surprise upon learning that President Donald Trump had granted him a pardon for his previous conviction on May 28, likening it to a punch he didn’t see coming.
In 2004, police apprehended the former boxer after he accepted 15 kilograms of fake cocaine. A court convicted him for his role in a drug trafficking ring and sentenced him to double life in prison for a first-time drug offense.
The sentence highlighted the systemic racism in the legal system, which disproportionately punishes Black offenders, especially in nonviolent cases. In 2021, Trump granted the former boxer clemency, releasing him from jail; however, he remained entangled in the criminal justice system.
The presidential pardon expunges Tanner’s record. With no documented criminal history, Tanner can now circumvent barriers that formerly incarcerated people often face when attempting to reintegrate into society.
Tanner credits the president and Alice Johnson, Trump’s White House pardon czar, for his new lease on life.
“They gave me my whole life back,” Tanner told theGrio.
Since his 2020 release, Tanner has traveled across the nation advocating for criminal justice reform and housing development for marginalized communities. He works at Impact Growth Capital, a social impact investment firm. He collaborates with the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to improve housing and economic conditions and create financial literacy and educational opportunities in Black neighborhoods.
Tanner said that his goal is to keep people out of prison. He believes that access to housing, employment, education, and mental health care can decrease the likelihood of incarceration for individuals in marginalized communities.
Tanner was among 237 people who received a presidential pardon last month, most of whom were convicted of white-collar crimes such as tax evasion and embezzlement. Though he is grateful to the president for the life-changing pardon, he urged Trump to make more of an effort to help people who are incarcerated for nonviolent drug offenses.
In 2024, Tanner published a memoir entitled Duke Got Life: A Boxer’s Fight for Freedom and One Last Shot at Redemption.
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