A pardon is a government decision to allow a person to be relieved of some or all of the legal consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. A pardon may be granted before or after conviction for the crime, depending on the laws of the jurisdiction.
Former U.S. President Bill Clinton was criticized for some of his pardons and acts of executive clemency. Pardoning or commuting sentences is a power granted by the U.S. Constitution to sitting U.S. Presidents.
Judith Alice Clark is an American activist, convicted felon, and former member of the Weather Underground. Clark was an unarmed getaway driver in the Brink's robbery of 1981 in Nanuet, New York. The robbers murdered a security guard and two Nyack, New York police officers. Clark was arrested in October 1981 and convicted of felony murder for her role in the crime. She was sentenced to the maximum penalty allowed by law: Imprisonment for a term of 75 years to life at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility in New York.
In the English and British tradition, the royal prerogative of mercy is one of the historic royal prerogatives of the British monarch, by which he or she can grant pardons to convicted persons. The royal prerogative of mercy was originally used to permit the monarch to withdraw, or provide alternatives to death sentences; the alternative of penal transportation to "partes abroade" was used since at least 1617. It is now used to change any sentence or penalty. A royal pardon does not overturn a conviction.
Richard Paey is a man from the U.S. state of Florida who was falsely incarcerated in 2004 for drug trafficking. There was no evidence he ever distributed or intended to sell any pills, but drug laws in many states, including Florida, allow officials to prosecute for trafficking based solely on the quantity an individual possesses. Paey spent three and a half years in prison, until he was granted a full pardon by Florida Governor Charlie Crist in September 2007.
The Office of the Pardon Attorney, within the United States Department of Justice, in consultation with the Attorney General of the United States or his delegate, assists the President of the United States in the exercise by him of executive clemency as authorized by Article II, Section 2, of the US Constitution. Under the Constitution, the president's clemency power extends only to federal criminal offenses. All requests for executive clemency for federal offenses are directed to the Office of the Pardon Attorney for investigation and review. The pardon attorney prepares the department's recommendation to the president for final disposition of each application. However, the practice under President Donald Trump has frequently been to bypass the OPA, and the majority of his executive clemency grants have been to well-connected convicted persons who did not file a petition with the OPA or meet the OPA's requirements.
William Charles Morva was an American-Hungarian criminal convicted of the two 2006 shooting deaths of Sheriff's Deputy Corporal Eric Sutphin and hospital security guard Derrick McFarland in the town of Blacksburg, Virginia. The shooting deaths occurred near the university campus of Virginia Tech while he awaited trial for attempted armed robbery. A jury sentenced him to death on June 23, 2008, but some doctors stated that he suffered from a serious mental illness, a delusional disorder that caused him to kill. Judge Ray Grubbs initially set the execution date for October 21, 2008. On June 4, 2009, an appeal for William Morva was made to the Virginia Supreme Court. However, the capital murder conviction and death sentence were confirmed on September 18, 2009.
The Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board is the parole board of the state of Oklahoma. The Board was created by an amendment to the Oklahoma Constitution in 1944. The Board has the authority to empower the Governor of Oklahoma to grant pardons, paroles, and commutations to people convicted of offenses against the state of Oklahoma.
The Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles is a five-member panel authorized to grant paroles, pardons, reprieves, remissions, commutations, and to remove civil and political disabilities imposed by law. Created by Constitutional amendment in 1943, it is part of the executive branch of Georgia's government. Members are appointed by the governor to staggered, renewable seven-year terms subject to confirmation by the State Senate.
A ticket of leave was a document of parole issued to convicts who had shown they could now be trusted with some freedoms. Originally the ticket was issued in Britain and later adapted by the United States, Canada, and Ireland.
The Minnesota Board of Pardons is the pardon board of the state of Minnesota. The Board of Pardons consists of the Governor of Minnesota, the chief justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court, and Minnesota Attorney General. The board has to power to grant executive clemency and commutation of sentences of any person convicted of any offense against the laws of the state, subject to certain regulations.
The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles (BPP) is a state agency that makes parole and clemency decisions for inmates in Texas prisons. It is headquartered in Austin, Texas.
Barry Allan Beach is an American who was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole in 1984 for the 1979 murder of Kimberly Nees in Poplar, Montana. During the years following his conviction, Beach gained support from influential state and national advocates who said his murder confession, the lynchpin of his conviction, was coerced. In 2015, his sentence was commuted to time served, plus ten years on probation.
Cyntoia Brown Long is an American author and speaker who was convicted of the murder and robbery of Johnny Michael Allen. Brown, who was 16 years old and a victim of sex trafficking at the time of the murder, claimed that Allen had paid her $150 to have sex with him, and that she feared for her life during their encounter, leading her to shoot him. Prosecutors argued that Brown killed Allen while he was sleeping in order to rob him. Brown was found guilty of robbing and murdering Allen and sentenced to life imprisonment.
A federal pardon in the United States is the action of the President of the United States that completely sets aside the punishment for a federal crime. The authority to take such action is granted to the president by Article II, Section 2, Clause 1 of the U.S. Constitution. A pardon is one form of the clemency power of the president, the others being commutation of sentence, remission of fine or restitution, and reprieve.
