Ex-boxer opens up about being granted clemency by Trump and the president potentially pardoning Diddy

Former professional boxer Duke Tanner remembers witnessing a murder on his first day in prison in 2004. 

"I watched the guy walk out the unit, blood seeping out of his neck. He dropped on the floor and ended up dying later," Tanner told Fox News Digital, recalling his thoughts at the time.

"'It's my new environment. I got to survive. I'm not going to die in here. I'm not going to be him.'"

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He wound up in jail after getting caught in a drug trafficking sting operation while trying to make additional money for his family.

"I thought it was a robbery at first. So, when I saw it was cops, I was really at peace," he said.

He was sentenced to two life terms, ending his boxing career and separating him from his family, including his son, who was just 2 at the time, for 16 years. He dedicated his time in prison to embracing Christianity and taking up every rehabilitation program available. 

And Tanner remembers the night in 2018 when he realized President Donald Trump would be the one who would end his sentence.

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"I had a dream, and I woke up," Tanner said. "I started writing a letter once a week to the White House after I had that dream, and, two years later, I was let go." 

After being denied clemency by former President Barack Obama in 2016, Tanner was granted clemency by Trump in 2020. In May, the former boxer was granted a presidential pardon. Tanner visited the White House to thank Trump in person.

"I got to thank him, and he remembered my case. And he said, 'Man, you had a bad road, but you got a beautiful son. I hear you’re doing great things. And continue the good work. I'm watching you,'" Tanner said. 

In August, Tanner published a book, "Duke Got Life: A Boxer's Fight for Freedom and One Last Shot at Redemption," detailing his story. 

Weeks after Tanner received his presidential pardon, Trump floated the idea of giving a presidential pardon to hip-hop artist Sean "Diddy" while he's on trial for sex trafficking. 

Tanner, who admits he hasn't followed the "Diddy" case closely and isn't "at liberty" to discuss the rapper's charges, revealed how he would feel about the idea of Combs getting a pardon from Trump. 

"This administration is going to read every piece of paperwork. They're going to get to the facts. They're going to get to the bottom of everything. And if he decides to make that move, it's a positive move, because he went through the system," Tanner said, referencing Trump's criminal trial last summer over alleged hush money to adult film star Stormy Daniels. 

"He knows what they did to him to try and make him a convicted felon, to make him get found guilty of all those counts. So, he knows the prosecution misconduct. He knows how they do it. He knows that it's a broken system." 

Tanner also suggested Trump's pardons are a means of holding those involved in the criminal justice system accountable. 

"And he's trying to show them, 'You guys do y'all job right, or I'm going to come and fix it for you and embarrass you,'" Tanner added. 

"So, with that being said, if he decides to do it, evidently he saw something, and he got the best lawyers around him. …  I'm not at liberty to even speak on [the Diddy trial]. I don't know what's going on. I'm just saying I don't care who it was. If the president said that he wanted to do it, believe me, there's a reason behind it, and that the law wasn't handled correctly." 

Tanner said he knows a lot of other people who are incarcerated who he believes deserve clemency. 

"I definitely know there's so many men and women that need clemency to be let out of the system," Tanner said. 

Tanner has already witnessed another president give a series of controversial pardons in the last year. Former President Joe Biden granted a series of pardons before leaving office in December, including to his son Hunter Biden, who was due to be sentenced for federal gun and tax convictions. 

"I heard about it. He freed his son," Tanner said. "It can never be comparable to my own because he never went to prison. He never even got charged. I did 16 years, six months and 21 days, taken away from my 2-year-old son. … He can never compare to the pain I went through. And then I came home still fighting for other people.

"What has [Hunter] done? Have we even heard from him since he got the pardon? Did he even speak about it? Did he even thank his father about it? So, we can never compare a guy like that to me." 

Still, Tanner said he's not offended by Hunter Biden's pardon.

Trump’s Justice Department is reviewing the list of people granted pardons by former President Joe Biden in response to new concerns about Biden's use of an AutoPen to automatically sign documents and concerns about his state of mind in his final months in office, Fox News Digital previously reported

Tanner declined to comment on the investigation. 

The former boxer is focused on continuing to do community service and helping his 19-year-old nephew become a future boxing world champion. 

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Woman declared dead by coroner, moved to coffin, turns out to be alive

A woman declared dead by the coroner after her husband found her unresponsive in bed was being placed in a coffin when morticians made a startling discovery — she was very much alive.

The horrifying tale from the Czech Republic unfolded when an 88-year-old woman, who was thought to be dead, showed signs of life in her coffin.

According to Blesk.cz, the husband of the woman thought to be deceased called the Pilsen emergency services to potentially help his wife.

The husband told the emergency dispatch that "she didn't move, she didn't breathe," according to the report.

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When paramedics arrived, they confirmed the woman's death and the coroners were dispatched to the apartment.

The coroner also confirmed the woman’s death and undertakers were called to move the body into the coffin.

The husband also told Blesk that "the workers transferred her to the coffin, and when they were right here in the apartment in the hallway by the door, they found out she was alive."

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An ambulance arrived shortly after, and the woman was transported to the hospital.

While this may seem like something out of a horror story, this rare medical occurrence has happened before.

According to the Cleveland Clinic, it's known as the Lazarus Effect.

Named after the biblical story of Jesus raising Lazarus back from the dead, this usually occurs after CPR ends.

Typically, this happens after a cardiac arrest occurs and CPR is administered to the patient.

This medical phenomenon occurs after the patient is clinically pronounced dead.

Some time later, the patient will begin to show signs of life and must continue to show these signs for more than a few seconds.

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According to the National Institutes of Health, there have been 74 confirmed cases in the U.S. from 1982-2022. 

It is still unknown how or why the Lazarus Effect happens.

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