Broncos’ Demaryius Thomas thanks President Obama for mother’s pardon

Denver Broncos wide receiver Demaryuis Thomas had the opportunity to thank President Obama for pardoning his mother during the team’s trip to the White House on Monday.

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Denver Broncos wide receiver Demaryius Thomas had the opportunity to thank President Obama for pardoning his mother during the team’s trip to the White House on Monday.

Thomas’s mother, Katina Smith, was one of 46 nonviolent drug offenders in federal prison that Obama pardoned last July. She had already served 15 years of a 20-year sentence that was handed down in 2000 for her role in a cocaine distribution operation.

Broncos vice president of communications Patrick Smyth passed along a thank you letter to the Obama on behalf of Thomas, who did get to speak to the President briefly.

“I talked to him for a quick second. I told him, ‘Thank you for helping my family,’” Thomas said, according toUSA Today. “We talked about my mother and we also talked about my grandmother.”

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Thomas’s grandmother, Minnie Pearl Thomas, is serving two life sentences after being convicted on drug trafficking charges. She is also hoping for a pardon, but did not qualify in 2015.