clemency news stories on Newser

Troy Davis: I Want to Take a Polygraph Test

Evann Gastaldo — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 06:23:52 CDT

Troy Davis is hours from death, but he’s not giving up. The Georgia death row inmate, who claims he was wrongly convicted of killing a police officer in 1989, wants to take a polygraph test. "Mr. Davis believes he is innocent and he wants to show it," his lawyer said...

Georgia Refuses to Spare Troy Davis' Life

Kate Schwartz — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 08:23:50 CDT

Troy Davis will die tomorrow. Georgia's pardons board today rejected a last-ditch plea for clemency for the death row inmate, despite calls from the likes of Pope Benedict, Amnesty International, and Jimmy Carter for his sentence to be commuted. The panel announced its decision after hearing hours of testimony from...

For Felon Mayor-Elect, Redemption Is Denied

Rob Quinn — Wed, 11 May 2011 04:31:00 CDT

Christopher Linder persuaded the people of a small Oklahoma town to elect him as their mayor despite his criminal past, but he couldn't persuade a clemency board in Arizona to scrub his felony convictions. The 33-year-old former gang member, convicted of transporting marijuana and taking part in a drive-by shooting...

Hiker Can't Go Free: Iran

Sat, 11 Sep 2010 05:50:51 CDT

Iranian authorities abruptly halted plans to release an American woman today after more than a year in jail with two friends, dashing their mothers' hopes and pointing to the internal rivalries within Iran's leadership. The about-face was an embarrassment to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who had personally intervened to get Sarah...

Don't Bury Clemency with Clemmons

Rob Quinn — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 05:42:00 CST

Mike Huckabee's mercy in granting clemency to cop killer Maurice Clemmons was horribly betrayed, but that's no reason to reject the very notion of clemency, writes Michael Gerson. Strong arguments in favor of the role clemency plays in the justice system were made at the time of the Founding Fathers,...

Clemmons Not Huckabee's 1st Freed Killer

Kevin Spak — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 07:28:24 CST

Maurice Clemmons isn’t the first killer Mike Huckabee released as governor thanks to his religious sense of mercy. Huckabee granted more commutations and pardons than any governor in the 40 years before him. Some, no doubt, were warranted by Arkansas’ draconian drug laws, but many more came courtesy of pastor...

Va. Gov Denies Clemency to DC Sniper

John Johnson — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 11:13:30 CST

Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine has denied clemency for Beltway sniper John Allen Muhammad, clearing the way for Muhammad's execution at 9pm tonight. Muhammad, whose appeal was rejected by the Supreme Court yesterday, will die by lethal injection, reports the Richmond Times-Dispatch . His 2002 shooting spree with younger accomplice Lee Boyd...

Scotland Defies US, Releases Lockerbie Bomber

Jason Farago — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 07:51:55 CDT

The only person convicted in the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am flight over Lockerbie, Scotland, has been released on compassionate grounds and will return to Libya, reports the BBC. Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi was sentenced to life for the murder of 270 people, but he is suffering from prostate cancer...

Tax Cheats Flood IRS, Looking to Come Clean

Jason Farago — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 09:07:35 CDT

A crackdown on tax evasion has led to a flood of wealthy Americans lining up to reveal their offshore accounts to the IRS, reports the Wall Street Journal . A limited-time offer of lower fines, coupled with the ongoing probe of Swiss bank accounts held by UBS, has produced a stampede...