Roller Derby has been fun and beneficial to her recovery (Photo/Stevoni Wells Doyle)
By Karen Stokes
On December 12th, President Biden issued the largest single-day clemency in modern history, granting 39 pardons for non-violent offenders and 1,499 commutations for those serving long prison terms.
The move comes over a week after the president signed an unconditional pardon for his son, Hunter.
One of those pardoned was Stevoni Wells Doyle, a 47-year-old woman who pleaded guilty to non-violent offenses at the age of 24.
“I’ve actually been out of prison since 2006. I was one of the ones who was actually pardoned. There’s a difference between having a sentence that has been commuted to someone who is already in prison and a pardon which is someone who has already done their time, completed probation or parole,” Doyle said. “Once you apply for it, it triggers an FBI vetting process which is extremely intensive. I applied in 2018 and in 2020 they started the vetting process where they talk to everybody that has known me for the past 20 years.
My boss, my boss’s boss, my co-workers, my mother’s boss, my doctor, and the people in my neighborhood. They contacted everybody. They did an extensive investigation into my life. Then turned the information to the Department of Justice.”
Her downward spiral began in 2000. Doyle, a mother of four, had recently separated from her partner and began working at a bar. She was introduced to meth, became instantly addicted, and within a year, lost her children, and accumulated multiple charges.
“My federal charges were possession of stolen mail which is check forgery on a federally insured credit union and I couldn’t maintain my probation so in 2004 I was sentenced to state prison. I served 15 months at the Utah State Prison and then I was transferred to a federal prison camp in Arizona. I was released from the federal prison camp in February 2006,” Doyle said.
Stevoni Wells Doyle was one of 39 people pardoned
by President Biden (Photo/Stevoni Wells Doyle)
While in prison Doyle decided to change her life.
“I didn’t want to live this life anymore, so I started to take accountability no matter how angry I was at anything that happened,” she explained. “I started to realize that if I hadn’t made the choices, I made then nobody would be in the position they were in, including my kids.”
Upon leaving federal prison, Doyle’s first job was at a tire shop, where she worked for three years before choosing to go back to school. In 2008, she married a man she met at the tire shop and had a child in 2010.
Doyle worked as a case manager and managed the Parole Access to Recovery program, assisting formerly incarcerated individuals with resources like transportation and housing.
She completed her Bachelor’s in Social Work in 2023 and an MSW in July 2024. Currently, she works as a therapist in the Jail Transition Program.
“I’ve been in recovery for over 21 years in March. I play Roller Derby. I’ve played Roller Derby for the last 13 years and it has been an amazing part of my recovery,” Doyle said.
“The community is amazing and everybody there supports me. I have an incredibly supportive and loving family and husband. My kids that were removed from me, two of them were adopted to a different family and I didn’t see them for 16 years and are back in my life when they were 18.”
When asked about receiving the pardon, Doyle said, “This opportunity means everything to me. With federal charges, a presidential pardon is the only way to restore your rights.
It’s something I can pass on to my children and clients, showing that with hard work and determination, you can overcome the barrier of a criminal record and become a better person.”
Doyle believes there needs to be an easier way to get your criminal records expunged at the Federal level, right now, she explained, the way the pardon goes whichever party is in power or who makes the most noise tends to get pardoned.
“I think there needs to be a better way to get your criminal records expunged. Some states don’t even have an expungement process, those people do their time, pay their restitution, and show that they can become a productive member of society,” Doyle said. “I think if you have means you can pay some outrageous fees to get attorneys and have them work the court system and get your charges reduced after the fact but everyday people don’t have access to that.”
Doyle says her first goal is to take care of her state charges.
“My other goal is to continue and work in the field I presently work in the jail a couple of days a week with clients that are struggling. I want to become the best therapist I can be for my clients and I want to be an advocate for those who have been stuck in the cycle of criminal justice system and substance abuse,” she said.