The House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance holds a hearing at 2:00 p.m. ET on June 22 on “Examination of Clemency at the Department of Justice” to examine the Department of Justice’s unprecedented re-prosecution of Philip Esformes, whose prison sentence was originally commuted by President Donald Trump. Brett Tolman, Executive Director of…

The House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance holds a hearing at 2:00 p.m. ET on June 22 on “Examination of Clemency at the Department of Justice” to examine the Department of Justice’s unprecedented re-prosecution of Philip Esformes, whose prison sentence was originally commuted by President Donald Trump. Brett Tolman, Executive Director of…

HOUSTON—Plagued by mental illness, Texas death row inmate Andre Thomas started hearing voices when he was 9 years old and first attempted suicide when he was 10, his attorneys say. Thomas’ psychosis, filled with religious delusions and hallucinations, became worse as he grew older. His family—beset by a long history of mental illness, addiction, and…

OKLAHOMA CITY—A man convicted in the shotgun slayings of an elderly couple in eastern Oklahoma in 2003 and sentenced to die should not be spared from the death sentence, a state board decided Wednesday. The five-member Pardon and Parole Board voted 3–2 to reject clemency for Scott Eizember, 61, who is scheduled to receive a…

OKLAHOMA CITY—Oklahoma’s Pardon and Parole Board voted 4–1 Tuesday to deny clemency for a man sentenced to die for killing his 9-month-old daughter in 2002, moving him a step closer to his scheduled lethal injection next month. Attorneys for Benjamin Cole, 57, did not dispute that Cole killed Brianna Cole by forcibly bending the infant…

OKLAHOMA CITY—Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt on Wednesday rejected clemency for a man facing execution this week for the 1997 hammer killing of a Choctaw man, despite a recommendation from the state’s Pardon and Parole Board that his life be spared. James Coddington was convicted and sentenced to die for the beating death of his friend…

SAN DIEGO—Gov. Gavin Newsom has pardoned a man convicted of attempted murder in San Diego County, while also granting a commuted sentence for another man serving a 140-year-to-life prison term for armed robberies in the county. The Friday announcements were among 17 pardons, 15 commutations, and a medical reprieve issued by the governor’s office. Regarding…

President Joe Biden announced Tuesday the first use of his presidential powers to grant clemency, pardoning three felons and commuting the sentences of dozens more. The U.S. Constitution grants presidents the power to forgive convictions or shorten sentences. Biden is pardoning former Secret Service Agent Abraham Bolden, 86. Bolden became the first black man to…

A judge has ordered a pause on early releases of prisoners who committed crimes as juveniles, granting in part the relief sought in a lawsuit filed against Oregon Gov. Kate Brown, a Democrat, by two district attorneys and four family members of homicide victims. Brown has granted early release to nearly 1,200 convicted felons, including…

On his last day in office,  New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, granted clemency, on Monday, to a former member of the Weather Underground domestic terrorist group convicted of murder and robbery. Cuomo referred to the parole board 76-year-old David Gilbert, a former activist of the radical left Weather Underground group, who was convicted of second-degree murder…