The Crime Report (https://thecrimereport.org/category/clemency/)
Gov. J.B. Pritzker acted the day before recreational cannabis became legal in his state. He says Illinois is the first state to include a process for those previously convicted of marijuana offenses to seek relief.
“I will never pardon a violent crime without talking to a victim or their family first,” said Gov. Andy Beshear. “That’s the very least we ought to do.” Former Gov. Matt Bevin issued 650 pardons and commutations in his final weeks in office.
A Kentucky state representative says he was asked by an investigator what he knew about controversial pardons issued by Matt Bevin before he left office as Kentucky’s governor.
Former Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin said there was no evidence of abuse in the case, but a prosecutor says Bevin “is ignorant of the medicine and science in child rape cases.”
The departed Kentucky governor says, “The myriad statements and suggestions that financial or political considerations played a part in the decision making process, are both highly offensive and entirely false.”
Before leaving office this week, Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin issued 428 pardons, some for people who committed violent offenses. Prosecutors objected. Bevin said, “I’m a big believer in second chances.”
The release of David Sheppard, a Philadelphia man whose life sentence was commuted by Gov. Tom Wolf, was delayed when a prosecutor had him arrested on a 1992 shoplifting charge. His attorney called it a “cheap political stunt.”
High on the list are Roger Stone, Michael Flynn and Paul Manafort. Stone is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 6
With the help of two law schools, qualified applicants’ cases will be forwarded to the Ohio Parole Board for expedited recommendations to Gov. Mike DeWine within six months. The current process can take years.
“We really want you to have a successful future,” Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt told inmates released in the largest single-day commutation in U.S. history, “Let’s make it so you guys do not come back here again.”