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Dec. 27 (UPI) -- California Gov. Jerry Brown had pardoned a husband and wife convicted of drug offenses after their home was destroyed in the Camp Fire in November. On Monday, the Democratic governor erased the sentence of Heather Steels Burnett, who served one year in jail for a drug arrest 20 years ago for possessing ephedrine with the intent to manufacture methamphetamine. The action was part of an executive order on Christmas Eve that granted 143 pardons and 131 commutations.
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On Thanksgiving, her husband, Jason Burnett, had his drug conviction pardoned weeks after their home in Paradise was destroyed in Northern California. It was among 38 pardons and 70 commutations.
He had served three years in prison.
At the time, governor's office said that the wildfire played no role in the decision.
"When he got his, that right there couldn't compare because we were still very much reeling in the trauma and still being traumatized by what just happened to us," Heather Burnett told KTXL-TV.
Her pardon read: "Since her release from custody, she has lived an honest and upright life."
"When someone says they're from Governor Brown's office, I was in shock," Heather Burnett explained.
She says bad decisions landed her in jail.
"In '98 I was arrested with the intention to manufacture methamphetamine which was in direct relation to the people I was associating with," she said.
They have had to start their lives over again.
"We lost everything in the fires, so it's been symbolic to be starting again in one way and to have the past not forgotten, but pardoned, in another," Heather Burnett said. "It's always been a dark spot when you're trying to explain yourself to people.'
Brown will leave office on Jan. 7. He has granted 1,189 pardons and 152 commutations, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
"Many people in today's society do not believe in either forgiveness or redemption," Brown told the newspaper. "They believe that what you do is who you are. That philosophy is not something that I share. I don't think it's Christian ... and it does not comport with historical notions of justice."
