Columbus woman convicted in 1970s of killing abusive husband receives presidential pardon

A former Columbus woman who was convicted in the 1970s of killing her husband at the couple's Washington D.C. home has been pardoned by President Joe Biden.

Beverly Ann Ibn-Tamas, whose maiden name was Hodge, is now 80 years old. She was 33 when her husband, Dr. A. R. Yusuf Ibn-Tamas, 35, was shot and killed during a "heated argument" in February 1976.

Ibn-Tamas testified at two trials, first in September 1976 and again in 1977, that she was pregnant at the time of the shooting and had been beaten, verbally abused and threatened by her husband, including in the moments before the shooting.

Testimony about battered woman syndrome, which was not widely accepted at the time, was not permitted at the trial. In the ensuing years, battered woman syndrome has been used more frequently as a defense in cases involving domestic abuse.

Ibn-Tamas was sentenced to a term of one to five years in prison with credit for time she served and was released.

Ibn-Tamas' appeal of her criminal conviction was a crucial step, the White House said, in expert testimony about battered woman syndrome being recognized in criminal trials.

She has lived in Columbus and worked for Able Support Services in recent years as the director of nursing and a case manager.

Ibn-Tamas has two children that she raised as a single mother, according to information provided by the White House. Both children obtained advanced degrees and her daughter is now an attorney.

At the time of his death, Dr. Ibn-Tamas was a neurosurgeon and clinical instructor at Georgetown University. In 1967, he was the first Black graduate of Johns Hopkins Medical School. Ibn-Tamas was called Robert Gamble prior to his conversion to the Muslim faith several years before his death.

bbruner@dispatch.com

@bethany_bruner

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus woman convicted of killing abusive husband gets Biden pardon