President Donald Trump recently granted pardons to more than 1,500 individuals convicted for their roles in the January 6th Capitol insurrection. One of the recipients was Felicia Konold, who had been charged with obstructing law enforcement and aiding in civil disorder.
Konold, from Arizona, had been fighting the charges for three years, initially facing the possibility of more than 30 years in prison. In the end, she served just 45 days in jail and was given two years of supervised release. When her attorney told her about the pardon, she was in complete shock.
“I was in shock; I’ve been in denial,” Konold told WLBT. “People kept saying, ‘Oh, you’re going to get this, you’re going to get this,’ but after four long years of feeling targeted, tortured, and abused, it didn’t seem real.”
With her record now cleared, Konold is looking ahead to rebuilding her life. She plans to pursue work with children and in animal medicine, areas she’d been denied opportunities in for years due to her conviction.
“Oh, I cried,” Konold said. “I’ve been through so much—federal prison, solitary confinement, being shackled, starving during my pregnancy because I couldn’t leave my house. I couldn’t work, couldn’t have any resources. This pardon changes everything.”
Even with everything she’s been through, Konold has no regrets about her actions on January 6th.
“Before, I might have said I regretted it,” she said. “But now, with the truth coming out and having fought for this pardon, I don’t regret it. Not at all.”
Trump’s executive action is part of a larger push to clear the records of over 1,500 people connected to the Capitol attack.
