As one of his final acts in office, President Trump has granted a pardon to the co-founder of Death Row Records. Michael “Harry-O” Harris served about three decades after his 1988 conviction of attempted murder in kidnapping. In 1992, from behind bars, Harris granted $1.5 million in seed money to Suge Knight to start the iconic record label, which went on to feature iconic rappers such as Dr. Dre, Tupac Shakur and Snoop Dogg. Snoop launched a lobbying bid to grant Harris clemency in the president’s final days in office, The Daily Beast reported on Monday. Harris had sought to be released from prison earlier this year, citing his autoimmune disorder as a possible risk factor for COVID-19, but that request was declined. “The president knows how much this case means to me,” Alice Johnson, a criminal justice activist also granted a pardon by Trump in 2018, told the Beast earlier this week. “In reviewing Michael Harris’ case, his story, and what he’s gone through, this is such an unfair case... He should have been home a decade ago.”
