LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB and LEX 18) -- Lindsay Horseman could be called an expert at second chances.
In her job as an alternative sentencing worker with the Kentucky Department of Public Advocacy, she works to give people a chance to go into treatment instead of behind bars.
She took full advantage of the chances she was given — eventually.
"It took me a while to get it right," said Horseman, of Winchester, Kentucky.
She has been in recovery from addiction for nearly 10 years. She has earned a master's degree, bought a house and got married.
But, she told LEX 18, her criminal record had, at times, served as a barrier to those things.
Trafficking a controlled substance and theft charges could not be expunged, she said. So she applied for a pardon.
Gov. Matt Bevin had granted her request, writing that she had "turned her life around ... (and) become a model citizen and a shining example to others."
Horseman was at work when she found out.
"It was really hard for me in that moment to try to control my emotions and not immediately start crying in the middle of the court."
In Bevin's final days in office, he pardoned or commuted the sentences of hundreds of Kentuckians.
A handful of those pardons were criticized by families of victims and prosecutors who said justice had been undone.
But Bevin insisted that the vast majority of pardons had been given to people who were out of prison and had paid their debt to society.
Horseman said the focus on those controversial pardons can be frustrating.
"When those few pardons that were unpopular are all of the headlines that you see and then everyone else's kind of gets lumped into that, then they're all looked at the same," Horseman said.
But she said she remains grateful for this chance to continue to push to reach her goals without the charges on her record.
"I'm not the same person sitting here talking to you right now that I was ten years ago walking through the door of that jail," Horseman said.
It's bittersweet though, she said. Her husband, Cody Angel, also applied for a pardon that wasn't granted.
He was charged with wanton endangerment about 10 years ago, but also is in recovery from addiction and now has full custody of his two daughters, he said. He's going to school to get a job similar to Horseman's, and he’s elated she got pardoned.
"I've never been prouder and more happy for a person ever. There's no one more deserving," Angel said.
The couple continues to give others a chance to recover from addiction. As many chances as it takes, Horseman said.
"There has to be some understanding that it may not be the first time, that it may take multiple attempts at treatment before someone achieves long-term recovery," she said.
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