Latest Pardons and commutations News
Idaho judge weighs if governor has power over commutations
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A state judge is weighing whether Idaho's Constitution allows the governor to reject a parole board's recommendation when it comes to commuting a death sentence — a decision that may determine if a longtime death row inmate will be executed. 2nd District...
Lawsuit: Governor unlawfully commuting prison sentences
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Two Oregon district attorneys and the relatives of three homicide victims have filed a lawsuit accusing Gov. Kate Brown of unlawfully freeing nearly 1,000 incarcerated people. The lawsuit was filed Wednesday in Marion County Circuit Court, The...
Pardoned Kentucky killer sentenced to 42 years in prison
LONDON, Ky. (AP) — A man pardoned by Kentucky’s former governor for a 2014 drug robbery killing will return to prison to serve a 42-year federal sentence for the same crime. Patrick Baker was convicted of murder committed during a drug trafficking crime last year in a federal...
Northam pardons scandal-scarred state Sen. Joe Morrissey
Virginia's outgoing governor has pardoned a state senator who was jailed after a sex scandal that involved a 17-year-old receptionist who later became his wife. Sen. Joe Morrissey told The Associated Press that Gov. Ralph Northam, a fellow Democrat, issued a pardon for the 2014...
San Quentin inmate podcast host among California clemencies
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California's governor on Thursday commuted the sentence of an inmate who has drawn national attention as co-host of the Pulitzer Prize-nominated podcast Ear Hustle, which is produced inside San Quentin State Prison. Gov. Gavin Newsom's decision will allow...
What is seditious conspiracy? Rare, but now part of Jan. 6
Sedition, conspiracy. Those big words are now being used in Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection criminal cases after prosecutors charged 11 people Thursday. But what do the terms mean, anyway? Seditious conspiracy occurs when two or more people in the U.S. conspire to...
Evers' pardons near 400, most of any Wisconsin governor
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Democratic Gov. Tony Evers announced Thursday he had pardoned 54 more people, bringing his total to nearly 400, the most of any Wisconsin governor. Most of the latest pardons involved low-level drug offenses. Other offenses included fraud, burglary, theft and...
Virginia governor pardons man convicted in 2002 killing
PORTSMOUTH, Va. (AP) — Gov. Ralph Northam has granted a full pardon to a man sentenced to life in prison in the 2002 killing of a pregnant woman and the shooting of her boyfriend. The Virginian-Pilot reports that Northam granted the “absolute pardon" Tuesday to Lamar Edward...
Man whose arrest led to ‘separate but equal’ is pardoned
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Louisiana’s governor on Wednesday posthumously pardoned Homer Plessy, the Black man whose arrest for refusing to leave a whites-only railroad car in 1892 led to the Supreme Court ruling that cemented “separate but equal” into U.S. law for half a century. ...
After pardon from governor, McCloskeys want their guns back
ST. LOUIS (AP) — The city of St. Louis has not destroyed guns seized months ago from the couple who made headlines by waving the weapons at racial injustice protesters, and the couple is trying to get them back. Robert Dierker of the City Counselor's Office told a judge during a...
