El Paso Standard

Diana Marquez, a 63-year-old mother of five and grandmother of 16, has served approximately 12 years of her 30-year federal sentence for conspiring to import and distribute marijuana. Criminal justice advocates say she is a deserving candidate for clemency.

"My guilt is by association with my husband, Mario Marquez," Marquez told the CAN-DO Foundation. "My role in the case was not removing myself from his illicit behavior. I regret that now, although with 5 children to take care of I felt as though I had to stay in the relationship."

Marquez is a nonviolent, low-level offender with no current ties to criminal organizations. Two of her sons, Esaul Guerrero Jr. and Reydecel Marquez, were involved with her husband's drug organization, but they are now dead. Marquez also has no current ties with her husband, the fugitive Mario Alonso Marquez-Ramos. She is willing to help bring him to justice.

A U.S. citizen since 1979, Marquez had no history of violence or crime prior to the conspiracy charge, in either the U.S. or Mexico.

In prison, Marquez has a nearly spotless disciplinary record. The only thing she was disciplined for was possessing an unauthorized watch given to her by another inmate upon that inmate's release in 2008.

Marquez says if she is granted Clemency by President Donald Trump, she will spend the rest of her life with her loved ones while also giving back to her community.

"To give back to society, I would enjoy mentoring young men and women by teaching them skills in accounting that I have mastered," Marquez said. "I am Hispanic and will live with my daughter Yesinia who lives in El Paso. We are big fans of President Trump and it would be a dream come true to receive mercy from him."