Clint Allen Lorance (born December 13, 1984) is a former United States Army officer who is known for having been convicted and pardoned for war crimes related to the killing of two Afghan civilians.

[1] While serving as a first lieutenant in the infantry in the War in Afghanistan with the 4th Brigade Combat Team of the 82nd Airborne Division in 2012, Lorance was charged with two counts of unpremeditated murder after he ordered his soldiers to open fire on three Afghan men who were on a motorcycle.

On July 1, 2012, Lorance ordered two of his soldiers to fire at the villagers and instructed one of his NCOs to provide a false report to the Troop TOC (Tactical Operations Center).

[2][10][12][15][16][22] The patrol entered the same location in which they had been fired upon, in a dangerous valley in a Taliban-controlled area of Zhari District in Kandahar Province in southern Afghanistan.

In a post-conviction legal filing, a U.S. government contractor, Kevin Huber, claimed to have observed the area through cameras on a stationary blimp.

In my experience, they had every indication of Taliban or insurgent fighters because they were armed with AK-47 assault rifles and using ICOM radios while moving along the back wall of the village toward the American position.

[5][23] Attorneys for Lorance attempted to cast doubt on four of the soldiers' accounts, arguing that they were granted immunity from prosecution in exchange for their testimony.

Lorance's lawyer said Lorance's actions were justified by the threat level at the time, by the information conveyed to him by Army helicopter pilots that insurgents were loitering on three sides of the platoon, and by intelligence reports that men on motorcycles were presumed to be Taliban members, which led him to believe that the men on the motorcycle were Taliban suicide bombers and an imminent threat.

[2][9][22] At the end of a three-day trial, in August 2013 the 28-year-old Lorance was found guilty by a military judge of two counts of second-degree murder, obstruction of justice, and other charges "related to a pattern of threatening and intimidating actions toward Afghans" as the platoon's leader.

[8] United American Patriots (UAP), a non-profit group that defends U.S. soldiers accused of war crimes, assisted Lorance on his appeal.

[29][30] The group, led by retired Marine Corps lieutenant colonel David Gurfein, said it assists the accused personnel it believes might not be receiving due process.

[29] In September 2015, defense attorneys filed a petition with the U.S. Army Court of Criminal Appeals for a new trial, arguing that evidence linking the two killed Afghans to terror networks was left out of Lorance's court-martial proceedings.

[34] In its response to the petition, the White House said that requests for executive clemency for federal offenses should be directed to the Office of the Pardon Attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice.

[35] Senators Bill Cassidy and John Kennedy, as well as Representatives Garret Graves, Mike Johnson, Clay Higgins, Ralph Abraham, and Steve Scalise all called upon Trump to release Lorance.

[35] In 2015, a joint resolution was introduced into committee in the Illinois legislature calling for President Barack Obama to exercise his powers as commander-in-chief and send the Lorance case to a new trial.

On August 9, 2019, Louie Gohmert, Ralph Norman, Scott Perry, Duncan D. Hunter, Jody Hice, Paul Gosar, Mark Meadows, Brian Babin, Daniel Webster, and Steve King sent a letter to the Army Clemency and Parole Board urging Lorance's release.

[39] However, Brown's claims have not been substantiated in other reviews, which suggest that the motorcycle riders were civilians and that the men with Taliban connections merely share the same name as those killed.

Fox News hosts Sean Hannity and Pete Hegseth reportedly played a leading roles in persuading Trump to pardon Lorance.

[51][52] Following his release, Lorance appeared on national media thanking Trump and accusing leaders at the Pentagon of being part of the "deep state.

[54][55] In September 2020, Center Street published his memoir Stolen Honor: Falsely Accused, Imprisoned, and My Long Road to Freedom.

[59] In the summer of 2023, Todd Fitzgerald, a former soldier who witnessed Lorance’s crimes in Afghanistan, spearheaded an online campaign to protest his admission to the Oklahoma bar.