President Donald Trump recently indicated that he may pardon 250 people on our country’s 250th anniversary this Independence Day. One of the most deserving recipients should be former Maricopa County Assessor Paul Petersen, who has been in prison for almost five and a half years with significant health problems, including Stage 3(b) kidney disease. 

Petersen was targeted by leftist prosecutors because he was a vocal Trump supporter who was assisted in his campaigns by the Republican Party. He merely helped expectant mothers in the Marshall Islands adopt out their babies to Americans. The work came naturally to him, since he served on a mission when he was younger to the Marshall Islands and had learned the language and culture. He believed what he was doing was legal, since the Arizona Court of Appeals considered a challenge to one of his adoptions in 2007 on similar grounds and dismissed it, allowing Paul’s adoption to go through.

However, the Marshallese government didn’t like the competition — they had their own competing adoption business, which charged far more — so federal prosecutors in Arkansas and state prosecutors in Arizona and Utah came after Paul in 2019. Unable to afford lawyers to fully defend himself in three criminal cases, he was forced to accept plea deals. 

Obama-appointed Judge Timothy L. Brooks sentenced Paul to 74 months in prison for smuggling illegal aliens when the actual sentence guideline range was 36-47 months, despite Paul having no previous criminal history! In comparison, the........

© Townhall