I served my country in Iraq. I came home with service-connected disabilities. Years later, I founded an organization dedicated to serving veterans, first responders, and their families.

The federal government ultimately used my work with that organization as evidence to prosecute me over my VA disability benefits.

My name is Jeremy Harrell. I am an Army combat veteran, husband, father, veteran and criminal justice reform advocate, chaplain, and founder of Veterans' Club Inc. 

I maintain that I was wrongfully convicted.

I refused to plead guilty because I believed I was innocent. I went to trial, was convicted, went to federal prison, and served my sentence.

I maintain my innocence today.

I am asking President Donald J. Trump to examine the full circumstances of my case and grant me presidential clemency.

FROM IRAQ TO SERVING VETERANS AT HOME

My story did not begin in a courtroom. I served in the United States Army and deployed to Iraq during the early years of the war. I returned home carrying service-connected disabilities and eventually received disability compensation from the Department of Veterans Affairs.

But disability did not mean I stopped serving.

In 2019, I founded Veteran's Club Inc, an organization created to support veterans, first responders, and their families. Our work included veteran mental-health and suicide-prevention efforts, retreats, family programs, community events, and equine-based programs.

I devoted years of my life to that mission. The work was recognized by community leaders, public officials, veterans, first responders, and others who saw its impact firsthand.

That service eventually became central to the federal government’s case against me.

THE GOVERNMENT PROSECUTED ME OVER MY VA BENEFITS

I received VA Individual Unemployability benefits, commonly called TDIU. The government later alleged that my activities with Veteran's Club  Inc demonstrated that I was not entitled to continue receiving those benefits and charged me with theft of government funds.

I did not plead guilty.

I went to trial because I believed then, as I believe now, that I had not knowingly stolen benefits from the United States.

My case involved far more than the simple question of whether I was active, productive, or capable of helping other people. At the heart of my defense were questions involving my understanding of VA requirements, the nature of my activities with Veteran's Club Inc, the rules governing Individual Unemployability, and what I understood about my obligations to the VA.

I maintain that important evidence and context supporting my good-faith understanding were not adequately developed and presented to the jury.

A federal jury convicted me, and I continue to pursue the legal remedies available to me, and I continue to maintain my innocence.

I WENT TO FEDERAL PRISON

The consequences were real. I lost my freedom. My family lost time with a husband and father. My reputation, finances, career, and future were changed by a federal felony conviction.

I went to prison after a life that included honorable military service, veteran advocacy, ministry, community service, and years spent helping people during some of the hardest moments of their lives.

I served my sentence.

But a federal felony follows you home. It affects your reputation, opportunities, finances, family, and future. It can reduce an entire human life to the worst label the government can place beside someone’s name: convicted felon.

I cannot recover the time I lost. My family cannot recover it either.

But I refuse to allow what happened to end my service or silence me.

LOOK AT MY WHOLE RECORD

Before this prosecution, my work on behalf of veterans and my community received significant recognition. I was inducted into the Kentucky Veterans Hall of Fame. My service has been recognized in the Congressional Record. I have worked in veteran mental health and suicide prevention and have served as a chaplain helping people through crisis and tragedy.

Those accomplishments do not place me above the law.

But neither should one prosecution erase the rest of a person’s life.

I am still serving. I am still speaking. I am still advocating. And I am still fighting for my name.

WHY I AM ASKING FOR PRESIDENTIAL CLEMENCY

The Constitution gives the President the power to grant clemency in federal criminal cases.

A criminal appeal asks courts specific legal questions. Clemency allows a President to consider something broader: the whole person and the full circumstances of the case.

That is what I am respectfully asking President Trump to do.

Look at my service in the US Army.  Look at my service-connected disabilities. Look at the work I did for veterans and first responders. Look at the circumstances surrounding my VA benefits and what I understood about my obligations. Look at the evidence and context I maintain were not adequately presented to the jury.

Look at what this prosecution and imprisonment cost my family.

Look at the life I lived before this prosecution and the life I have continued to live afterward. 

Then consider whether this federal conviction should define the rest of my life.

MY REQUEST TO PRESIDENT TRUMP

Mr. President, I am asking you to review the full circumstances of my case and grant me presidential pardon.

I served my country in Iraq. I served my sentence. I continue serving others.

And I continue to maintain my innocence.

I cannot change what has already happened. I cannot recover the time I lost in federal prison or give that time back to my family. But this conviction does not have to write the final chapter of my life.

To everyone reading this, I am asking you to stand with me.

If you believe my case deserves the attention of the President of the United States, add your name. If you believe the complete record of a combat veteran’s life and case deserves consideration, add your name. If you believe claims of wrongful conviction deserve serious examination, add your name.

Then share this petition so others can examine my story for themselves.

Help me put the full story of my case before President Donald J. Trump.

I served my country. I served my sentence. I maintain my innocence. Now I am asking for justice, mercy, and the opportunity to move forward.