Clemency

List of Clemencies Since 1976

#YearNameRaceStateReason for Commutation
11977Charles Harris HillBGAGranted under Gov. George Busbee by Pardons Board. Death sen­tence was dis­pro­por­tion­al to the sen­tence giv­en to his equal­ly or more cul­pa­ble co-defen­dant, the actual killer.*
21979Learie Leo AlfordBFLGranted by Gov. Bob Graham. Possible innocence.*
31979Clifford HallmanWFLGranted by Gov. Bob Graham. Death sen­tence was inap­pro­pri­ate for the crime.*
41980Darrell Edwin HoyWFLGranted by Gov. Bob Graham. Death sen­tence was dis­pro­por­tion­al to the sen­tence giv­en to his equal­ly or more cul­pa­ble co-defen­dant, the triggerman.*
51980Richard Henry GibsonBFLGranted by Gov. Bob Graham. Death sen­tence was dis­pro­por­tion­al to the sen­tence giv­en to his equal­ly culpable co-defendants.*
61981Michael SalvatoreWFLGranted by Gov. Bob Graham. Disparities in sen­tences between Salvatore and two oth­ers involved in the crime.*
71983Jesse RutledgeBFLGranted by Gov. Bob Graham. Possible innocence.*
81986Eddie Lee AdamsBNMCommutations (5) by Gov. Toney Anaya because of his posi­tion on the death penalty.
91986Joel Lee ComptonWNMSee #8
101986Richard GarciaHNMSee #8
111986William GilbertWNMSee #8
121986Michael GuzmanHNMSee #8
131987Doris Ann FosterWMDGov. Hughes, a death penal­ty oppo­nent, com­mut­ed the sen­tence because of doubts about Foster’s guilt.*
141988Freddie DavisWGAGranted under Gov. Joe Frank Harris. Board of Pardons and Paroles found that Davis’ death sen­tence was dis­pro­por­tion­al to the life sen­tence giv­en to his equal­ly or more culpable co-defendant.*
151988David Cameron KeithWMTGranted by Gov. Ted Schwinden. Reasons report­ed­ly includ­ed Keith’s par­tial paral­y­sis and blind­ness, remorse, reli­gious con­ver­sion, and the pos­si­bil­i­ty that he may have shot the vic­tim as a reflex action.*
161989Ronald MonroeBLAGov. Roemer had doubts about Monroe’s guilt.*
171990William MooreBGAGranted under Gov. Joe Frank Harris. Board of Pardons and Paroles com­mut­ed Moore’s sen­tence cit­ing his exem­plary prison record, remorse, reli­gious con­ver­sion, and the pleas for clemen­cy from the victim’s family.*
181991Debra BrownBOHCiting a ​“dis­turb­ing racial pat­tern” in death sen­tenc­ing, Gov. Richard Celeste grant­ed clemen­cy to 8 death row pris­on­ers as he was leav­ing office. Celeste stat­ed that he select­ed cas­es based on the pris­on­ers’ crimes, the fair­ness of sen­tences, men­tal health and IQ, and length of time served.
191991Rosalie GrantBOHSee #18
201991Elizabeth GreenBOHSee #18
211991Leonard JenkinsBOHSee #18
221991Willie JesterBOHSee #18
231991Beatrice LampkinBOHSee #18
241991Donald Lee MaurerWOHSee #18
251991Lee SeiberWOHSee #18
261991Joseph GiarratanoWVAGranted by Gov. Douglas Wilder. Possible innocence.*
271991Harold WilliamsWGAGranted under Gov. Zell Miller. Board of Pardons and Paroles found that Williams’ death sen­tence was dis­pro­por­tion­al to the sen­tence giv­en to his accom­plice, who took full respon­si­bil­i­ty for the crime.*
281992Herbert BassetteBVAGranted by Gov. Douglas Wilder. Possible innocence.
291992Anson Avery MaynardNNCGranted by Gov. James G. Martin. Possible innocence.
301993Bobbie ShawBMOGov. Mel Carnahan said there was ​“lit­tle doubt that Mr. Shaw is men­tal­ly retard­ed and suf­fers from vary­ing degrees of men­tal ill­ness.” (Washington Post, June 3, 1993). The jury that sen­tenced him had not been told of his disabilities.
311994Earl WashingtonBVAGranted by Gov. Douglas Wilder. Possible inno­cence.1
321996Gwen GarciaWILGranted by Gov. Jim Edgar. Death sen­tence was inap­pro­pri­ate for the crime. (Garcia had waived her appeals.)
331996Joseph PayneWVAGranted by Gov. George Allen. Possible innocence.
341996Donald ParadisWIDGranted by Gov. Phil Batt. Possible inno­cence. (In April 2001, Paradis’ mur­der con­vic­tion was over­turned and he was released from prison.)
351997William SaundersBVAGranted by Gov. George Allen. Rehabilitation of inmate. Prosecutor and judge from tri­al recommended clemency.
361998Henry Lee LucasWTXGranted by Gov. George W. Bush. Possible innocence.
371999Judith Ann NeelleyWALGov. Forrest H. James, Jr., as he was leav­ing office, did not ini­tial­ly give a rea­son. In a 2002 inter­view, he said he grant­ed clemen­cy because the jury had rec­om­mend­ed a sen­tence of life in prison, but the judge over­rode the jury’s rec­om­men­da­tion and sen­tenced Neelley to death.
381999Darrell MeaseWMOGranted by Gov. Mel Carnahan at Pope John Paul II’s request during visit.
391999Bobby Ray FretwellWARGranted by Gov. Mike Huckabee. One juror told Gov. he felt pres­sured to vote for death but didn’t sup­port the sentence.
401999Calvin SwannBVAGov. James Gilmore not­ed that prison offi­cials said Swann’s behav­ior on death row had been ​“noth­ing short of bizarre and total­ly devoid of ratio­nal­i­ty.” The pros­e­cut­ing attor­ney said that he would not have sought the death penal­ty if life with­out parole had been avail­able at the time. Gilmore not­ed that the jury had been mis­in­formed about the degree of Swann’s men­tal ill­ness. (Washington Post, May 3, 1999)
411999Wendell FlowersBNCGov. Jim Hunt had doubts about the extent of Flowers’ involve­ment in the crime.
422000Eugene Colvin-elBMDGov. Parris Glendening was uncer­tain of Colvin-el’s guilt.
31a2000Earl WashingtonBVAAfter DNA tests con­firmed Washington’s inno­cence, Gov. Jim Gilmore grant­ed him a par­don. In 1994, for­mer Gov. Douglas Wilder had com­mut­ed Washington’s death sen­tence based on con­cerns about his innocence.
432000Marcus CarterBNCGov. Jim Hunt had doubts about the fair­ness of Carter’s trial.
442001David Ronald ChandlerWFed.President Clinton grant­ed clemen­cy because Chandler’s prin­ci­pal accuser changed his tes­ti­mo­ny, cast­ing doubt on Chandler’s guilt.
452001Phillip Dewitt SmithBOKGov. Francis A. Keating had doubts about Smith’s guilt.
462001Robert Bacon, Jr.BNC

Gov. Mike Easley stat­ed that life impris­o­ment was the ​“appro­pri­ate sentence.”

(defense raised con­cerns that defen­dant was sen­tenced to death because of his race)

472002Charlie Mason AlstonBNCGov. Mike Easley stat­ed that life impris­o­ment was the ​“appro­pri­ate sen­tence.” (defense raised seri­ous doubts about client’s guilt)
482002Alexander WilliamsBGAGranted under Gov. Roy Barnes. The Board of Pardons and Paroles vot­ed to com­mute Williams’s sen­tence to life with­out parole because he suf­fered from men­tal ill­ness and was a juve­nile at the time of the crime.
492002Thomas NeviusBNVGranted under Gov. Kenny C. Guinn. The Nevada Pardons Board, chaired by Gov. Guinn, vot­ed unan­i­mous­ly to grant clemen­cy to Thomas Nevius, a men­tal­ly retard­ed pris­on­er. The com­mu­a­tion to a sen­tence of life with­out parole came after the U.S. Supreme Court banned the prac­tice of exe­cut­ing those with ​“men­tal retardation”.
502003Aaron PattersonBILIllinois Gov. George Ryan grant­ed four par­dons on January 10, 2003, because he con­clud­ed the pris­on­ers were innocent.
512003Madison HobleyBILSee #50
522003Leroy OrangeBILSee #50
532003Stanley HowardBILSee #50
54 – 2202003(click here for names)ILOn January 11, 2003, Illinois Gov. George Ryan com­mut­ed the sen­tences of the 167 death row pris­on­ers, cit­ing the flawed process that led to these sen­tences. Three pris­on­ers’ sen­tences were com­mut­ed to 40 years in prison with the pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole. The oth­er pris­on­ers’ sen­tences were com­mut­ed to life in prison with­out parole. Some of the com­mu­ta­tions were of pris­on­ers who were await­ing sen­tenc­ing or resen­tenc­ing. (Chicago Tribune, January 12, 2003 and Chicago Tribune, January 15, 2003)
2212003Herbert WelcomeBLAGov. Foster con­curred with the Pardon and Parole Board rec­om­men­da­tion based upon U.S. Supreme Court’s deci­sion on ​“men­tal retar­da­tion” in Atkins v. Virginia. (Associated Press, May 10, 2003)
2222003Jerome CampbellBOHGov. Taft con­curred with the Pardon and Parole Board rec­om­men­da­tion based on doubts regard­ing DNA evi­dence unavail­able at tri­al. (Associated Press, June 26, 2003)
2232003Kevin StanfordBKYGov. Paul Patton, declar­ing that the jus­tice sys­tem ​“per­pet­u­at­ed an injus­tice,” based his deci­sion upon Stanford’s age (17) at the time of the crime. The par­don, which reduced Stanford’s sen­tence to Life Without Parole, was made offi­cial by Gov. Patton on December 8, 2003.
2242004Willie James HallBGAGranted under Gov. Sonny Perdue. The state parole board of Georgia com­mut­ed Hall’s death sen­tence to life with­out parole on January 26, 2004, after six jurors tes­ti­fied that they would have cho­sen life with­out parole were it offered at tri­al. Hall’s excel­lent behav­ior in prison and no crim­i­nal record pri­or to the mur­der was also a fac­tor in the board’s deci­sion. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution, January 26, 2004)
2252004Osvaldo TorresLOKGov. Brad Henry com­mut­ed the death sen­tence of Osvaldo Torres to Life with­out Parole on May 13, 2004. Henry said that it was ​“impor­tant to remem­ber that the actu­al shoot­er in these hor­rif­ic mur­ders was also sen­tenced to death and faces exe­cu­tion.” Henry also stat­ed that he ​“con­clud­ed that there is a pos­si­bil­i­ty a sig­nif­i­cant mis­car­riage of jus­tice occurred… specif­i­cal­ly that the vio­la­tion of his Vienna Convention Rights con­tributed to tri­al counsel’s inef­fec­tive­ness, that the jury did not hear sig­nif­i­cant evi­dence, and that the result of the tri­al is unre­li­able.” (The Oklahoman, May 14, 2004) Henry’s deci­sion fol­lowed a rec­om­men­da­tion for clemen­cy by the Pardon and Parole Board and stay grant­ed by the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals fol­low­ing the International Court of Justice rul­ing that the rights of Torres and 50 oth­er Mexican nation­als on America’s death rows under the Vienna Convention were violated.
2262004Darnell WilliamsBINGov. Joe Kernan com­mut­ed the death sen­tence of Williams to life in prison with­out parole on the basis that Williams’ co-defen­dant ini­tial­ly received a life sen­tence and thus exe­cut­ing Williams would be unfair. (AP, July 2, 2004)
2272005Michael DanielsBINGov. Joe Kernan com­mut­ed the death sen­tence of Daniels to life impris­on­ment with­out parole because of doubts about Daniels’ per­son­al respon­si­bil­i­ty for the crime and the qual­i­ty of legal process lead­ing to his death sen­tence. Evidence had emerged about Daniels’ men­tal sta­tus and about whether he was the trig­ger­man in the under­ly­ing mur­der. [More] (Indianapolis Star, January 8, 2005)
2282005Arthur P. Baird IIWINGov. Mitch Daniels com­mut­ed the death sen­tence of Baird, who is severe­ly men­tal­ly ill to life with­out parole because that sen­tence was not avail­able at the time of Baird’s sen­tenc­ing but is avail­able now and many of the jurors in the tri­al and the fam­i­ly of the vic­tims believe that Baird deserved life with­out parole due to his men­tal ill­ness. (Indianapolis Star, August 29, 2005)
2292005Robin LovittBVAGov. Mark Warner com­mut­ed the death sen­tence of Lovitt to life with­out parole because a state court clerk had ille­gal­ly destroyed evi­dence from Lovitt’s tri­al that could have been used in his appeals. The gov­er­nor believed a clemen­cy was nec­es­sary to main­tain the public’s trust in the jus­tice sys­tem. (Office of the Governor, Commonwealth of Virginia, November 29, 2005)
31b2007Earl WashingtonBVAGov. Tim Kaine grant­ed Washington a sec­ond par­don explic­it­ly stat­ing that Washington had been com­plete­ly exon­er­at­ed. Former Gov. Douglas Wilder had com­mut­ed Washington’s death sen­tence to life with­out parole in 1994 and for­mer Gov. Jim Gilmore had grant­ed a par­don from his mur­der con­vic­tion in 2000.
2302007Kenneth FosterBTXGov. Rick Perry2 con­curred with the 6 – 1 rec­om­men­da­tion from the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles to com­mute Foster’s death sen­tence, stat­ing: ​“I am con­cerned about Texas law that allowed cap­i­tal mur­der defen­dants to be tried simul­ta­ne­ous­ly and it is an issue I think the Legislature should exam­ine.” Foster did not kill the vic­tim but drove the car car­ry­ing the shoot­er. He was tried at the same time as the actu­al shoot­er, who also received a death sen­tence. (Associated Press, August 30, 2007)
2312007Michael BoydBTNGov. Phil Bredesen com­mut­ed the death sen­tence of Michael Joe Boyd, who had been sen­tenced to die on Oct. 24, 2007, to life in prison with­out parole Friday, cit­ing inef­fec­tive legal coun­sel at his sen­tenc­ing and pro­ce­dur­al lim­i­ta­tions on his appeals. (Nashville Post, September 14, 2007)
2322007Jeffrey LeonardBKYGov. Ernie Fletcher com­mut­ed Leonard’s death sen­tence to a life sen­tence with­out parole in December 2007. Fletcher said Leonard was not pro­vid­ed ade­quate rep­re­sen­ta­tion by his attor­ney, Fred Radolovich, who has admit­ted he didn’t even know Leonard’s name dur­ing the tri­al. (Lexington Herald-Leader, December 11, 2007)
2332007Marko BeyBNJOn December 16, Gov. Jon Corzine com­mut­ed the sen­tences of every­one (8) on death row to life with­out parole. On December 17, he signed the bill abol­ish­ing the death penal­ty in New Jersey. (CNN, December 17, 2007)
2342007David CooperBNJSee #233
2352007Ambrose HarrisBNJSee #233
2362007236. Nathaniel HarveyBNJSee #233
2372007Sean KenneyWNJSee #233
2382007John MartiniWNJSee #233
2392007Jessie TimmendequasWNJSee #233
2402007Brian WakefieldBNJSee #233
2412008John SpirkoWOHGov. Ted Strickland reduced Spirko’s death sen­tence to life with­out parole. In his state­ment grant­i­ng clemen­cy, the gov­er­nor cit­ed ​“the lack of phys­i­cal evi­dence link­ing him to the mur­der, as well as the slim resid­ual doubt about his respon­si­bil­i­ty for the mur­der that aris­es from care­ful scruti­ny of the case record.” (Warrant of Commutation, Governor of Ohio, January 9, 2008)
2422008Samuel David CroweWGAGranted under Gov. Sonny Perdue. The Board of Pardons and Paroles did not pro­vide a rea­son for com­mut­ing Crowe’s sen­tence to life with­out parole. However, con­sid­er­able tes­ti­mo­ny from friends, pas­tors and even a for­mer cor­rec­tions offi­cer was pre­sent­ed to the board empha­siz­ing his exem­plary behav­ior and deep remorse while on death row. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution, May 23, 2008)
2432008Percy WaltonBVAGov. Timothy Kaine com­mut­ed Percy Walton’s death sen­tence to life in prison with­out parole, cit­ing his seri­ous men­tal ill­ness that ren­dered him incom­pe­tent to be exe­cut­ed. The gov­er­nor said that Walton was not aware of his impend­ing exe­cu­tion and the rea­son for it. Gov. Kaine had twice pre­vi­ous­ly stayed Walton’s exe­cu­tion to per­mit eval­u­a­tion of Walton’s men­tal con­di­tion and com­pe­ten­cy. The gov­er­nor said that he also con­sid­ered oth­er fac­tors such as Walton’s age at the time of the crime and evi­dence of ​“men­tal retar­da­tion.” (Washington Post, June 10, 2008; Governor Kaine’s state­ment of clemen­cy, June 9, 2008)
2442008Kevin YoungBOKFollowing the rec­om­men­da­tion of the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board, Gov. Brad Henry grant­ed clemen­cy to Kevin Young, com­mut­ing his death sen­tence to life in prison with­out the pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole. The Board’s rec­om­men­da­tion of clemen­cy was based on sev­er­al fac­tors, includ­ing the dis­pro­por­tion­al­i­ty of the pun­ish­ment, ques­tion­able wit­ness­es, and a deci­sion dur­ing the orig­i­nal tri­al to turn down a plea bar­gain that would have result­ed in a life sen­tence. (The Oklahoman, July 24, 2008)
2452009Jeffrey HillBOHGov. Ted Strickland com­mut­ed Hill’s death sen­tence to 25 years to life, fol­low­ing the Ohio Parole Board’s unan­i­mous rec­om­men­da­tion that Hill not be put to death. In grant­i­ng clemen­cy, Gov. Strickland expressed his agree­ment with the board’s find­ings: ​“the views of the victim’s fam­i­ly, the lack of ade­quate rep­re­sen­ta­tion by coun­sel at Mr. Hill’s sen­tenc­ing, the remorse demon­strat­ed by Mr. Hill regard­ing his actions, the lack of pro­por­tion­al­i­ty of the sen­tence of death in this case when com­pared with sim­i­lar mur­der cas­es, and the expressed views of two jus­tices of the Ohio Supreme Court which reviewed this case on appeal.” (Governor’s Statement Regarding Clemency Application of Jeffrey D. Hill, February 12, 2009)
2462010Richard Tandy SmithWOKGov. Brad Henry com­mut­ed sen­tence to life with­out the pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole as rec­om­mend­ed by the State Pardon and Parole Board. (Office of the Governor, May 19, 2010, and Associated Press). LWOP was not avail­able at the time of Smith’s sen­tenc­ing. The gov­er­nor believed LWOP would be the more appropriate sentence.
2472010Richard NieldsWOHGov. Ted Strickland com­mut­ed the sen­tence of Richard Nields, grant­i­ng clemen­cy on June 4, based on a rec­om­men­da­tion by the board ques­tion­ing the valid­i­ty of med­ical evi­dence used at Nields’ tri­al that helped sup­port a death sen­tence. (Columbus Dispatch, June 4, 2010)
2482010Gaile OwensWTNGov. Phil Bredesen com­mut­ed the sen­tence of Gaile Owens to life in prison based part­ly on a plea bar­gain offer that was lat­er rescind­ed, and part­ly to make the sen­tence con­sis­tent with ver­dicts deliv­ered in sim­i­lar cas­es in Tennessee. (The Tennessean, July 14, 2010)
2492010Kevin KeithBOHGov. Ted Strickland com­mut­ed the death sen­tence of Kevin Keith to life with­out parole on September 2. Strickland grant­ed clemen­cy based on legit­i­mate ques­tions that have been raised regard­ing the evi­dence that led to his con­vic­tion as well as con­cerns regard­ing the inves­ti­ga­tion of his case. (Governor’s Statement, September 2, 2010)
2502010Sidney CornwellBOHGov. Ted Strickland grant­ed clemen­cy based on attor­ney argu­ments that Cornwell grew up in an abu­sive envi­ron­ment and that he suf­fered from a genet­ic con­di­tion that con­tributed to his vio­lent ten­den­cies. The attor­neys also said that Cornwell’s death sen­tence was dis­pro­por­tion­ate to sen­tences hand­ed out for sim­i­lar killings in Mahoning County, and that the jury did not have the option of giv­ing him a life sen­tence with­out the pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole. (The Vindicator, November 15, 2010)
2512011Richard ClayWMOGov. Jay Nixon com­mut­ed Clay’s sen­tence to life in prison with­out parole. The gov­er­nor did not give a rea­son, but sup­port­ers pre­sent­ed evi­dence of pos­si­ble inno­cence. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, January 11, 2011)
2522011Jerome HarbisonBTNGov. Phil Bredesen com­mut­ed sen­tence to life in prison with­out parole to bring sen­tence in line with oth­ers in the state. (Associated Press, January 12, 2011)
2532011Rodney AdkinsBILOn March 9th, Gov. Pat Quinn com­mut­ed the sen­tences of every­one (15) on death row to life with­out parole and signed the bill abol­ish­ing the death penal­ty in Illinois. (ABC News, March 9, 2011)
2542011Teodoro BaezLILSee #253
2552011Dion BanksBILSee #253
2562011Joseph BannisterBILSee #253
2572011David DammWILSee #253
2582011Brian DuganWILSee #253
2592011Eric HansonWILSee #253
2602011Ricardo HarrisBILSee #253
2612011Anthony MertzWILSee #253
2622011Gary PateWILSee #253
2632011Daniel RamseyWILSee #253
2642011Paul RungeLILSee #253
2652011Cecil SutherlandWILSee #253
2662011Edward TenneyWILSee #253
2672011Andrew UrdialesWILSee #253
2682011Shawn HawkinsBOHGov. Kasich com­mut­ed his sen­tence to life in prison with­out parole because doubts had arisen about the degree of Hawkins’ involve­ment in the drug-relat­ed mur­der. Ohio’s Parole Board unan­i­mous­ly rec­om­mend­ed clemen­cy. (Washington Post, June 8, 2011)
2692011Joseph MurphyWOHGov. Kasich com­mut­ed his sen­tence to life in prison with­out parole fol­low­ing the unan­i­mous rec­om­men­da­tion of clemen­cy by the Ohio Parole Board. The gov­er­nor said, ​“Considering Joseph Murphy’s bru­tal­ly abu­sive upbring­ing and the rel­a­tive­ly young age at which he com­mit­ted this ter­ri­ble crime, the death penal­ty is not appro­pri­ate in this case.” (CBS News, September 26, 2011)
2702012Robert GattisBDEGov. Jack Markell cit­ed the ​“unusu­al and per­haps his­toric” rec­om­men­da­tion of the Delaware Board of Pardons, in a 4 – 1 vote, to com­mute Gattis’ sen­tence after con­sid­er­ing dis­turb­ing accounts of phys­i­cal and sex­u­al abuse that Gattis claims to have suf­fered as a child and which his attor­neys argued have nev­er been prop­er­ly con­sid­ered by the courts. (The Republic, January 17, 2012)
2712012Daniel GreeneBGAGreene’s sen­tence was com­mut­ed to a sen­tence of life with­out parole by the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles. Evidence pre­sent­ed to the board includ­ed tes­ti­mo­ny from the pros­e­cu­tor that that he would have sought life with­out parole rather than the death penal­ty if life with­out parole had exist­ed at the time Greene was sen­tenced, tes­ti­mo­ny from com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers and prison offi­cials that the crime was an out­lier of the oth­er­wise peace­ful and upstand­ing life and that Greene was intox­i­cat­ed at the time of the crime. (Savannah Morning News, April 20, 2012)
2722012John EleyBOHGov. John R. Kasich com­mut­ed the death sen­tence of John Jeffrey Eley to life in prison with­out the pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole. Kasich stat­ed that Eley, who is of lim­it­ed men­tal capac­i­ty, act­ed under the direc­tion of anoth­er man who was lat­er acquit­ted. Without those fac­tors it is doubt­ful that Eley would have com­mit­ted this crime. Additionally, the for­mer Mahoning County pros­e­cu­tor who tried Eley’s case regret­ted the way the case was han­dled and its out­come, and had called for clemen­cy. (Washington Post, July 10, 2012)
2732012Ronald PostWOHGov. John R. Kasich com­mut­ed the death sen­tence of Ronald Post to life in prison with­out the pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole. Kasich fol­lowed a rec­om­men­da­tion of mer­cy by the state parole board, which said there were too many prob­lems with how he was rep­re­sent­ed 30 years ago. (Associated Press, December 17, 2012)
2742014Arthur TylerBOHGov. John R. Kasich com­mut­ed the death sen­tence of Arthur Tyler to life in prison with­out the pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole, fol­low­ing a rec­om­men­da­tion of the Ohio Parole Board, due to ques­tions sur­round­ing his con­vic­tion. (Cleveland Plain Dealer, April 30, 2014)
2752014Tommy WaldripWGAGranted under Gov. Nathan Deal. Sentence com­mut­ed to life with­out parole by the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles. Although the Board did not state a rea­son for clemen­cy, one issue raised before the board was that the sen­tences for Waldrip and his accom­plices were not pro­por­tion­al, as the oth­er two peo­ple con­vict­ed for the same mur­der both received life sen­tences. (Atlanta Journal Constitution, July 9, 2014)
2762015Vernon EvansBMDGranted under Gov. Martin O’Malley. Sentence com­mut­ed to life with­out parole. Maryland abol­ished the death penal­ty in 2013, but the leg­is­la­tion was not made retroac­tive. As a result, pris­on­ers on death row remained con­demned even though the state did not have the legal means to car­ry out their sen­tences. Maryland had not car­ried out an exe­cu­tion since 2005 due to its lethal injec­tion pro­to­col being found ille­gal. (Washington Post, January 20, 2015)
2772015Anthony GrandisonBMDSee #276
2782015Heath BurchBMDSee #276
2792015Jody MilesWMDSee #276
2802015Kimber EdwardsBMOGov. Jay Nixon com­mut­ed the death sen­tence of Kimber Edwards to life with­out parole. Although Gov. Nixon said he believed Edwards was guilty of arrang­ing for the killing of his ex-wife, the killer, who had received a life sen­tence, recant­ed his tes­ti­mo­ny that Edwards had been involved in the killing.
2812017Abelardo Arboleda OrtizB/​LFed.President Barack Obama grant­ed clemen­cy on January 17, 2017 for Ortiz, a Colombian nation­al with claims of intel­lec­tu­al dis­abil­i­ty. Ortiz was not in the room when the vic­tim was killed, and his more cul­pa­ble co-defen­dant received a life sen­tence. His attor­neys nev­er inves­ti­gat­ed his intel­lec­tu­al dis­abil­i­ty. Ortiz was also not grant­ed access to assis­tance from the Colombian con­sulate, as required under the Vienna Convention on Consular Rights.
2822017Dwight LovingBMil.President Barack Obama grant­ed clemen­cy to Loving on January 17, 2017.
2832017Ivan TeleguzWVAGov. Terry McAuliffe com­mut­ed the death sen­tence to life in prison, with no chance for parole on April 20, 2017.
2842017Jason McGeheeWAROn August 25, 2017, Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced his intent to grant clemen­cy by com­mut­ing the death sen­tence to life with­out pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole. In announc­ing his deci­sion, Hutchinson said he had con­sid­ered ​“many fac­tors,” includ­ing a 6 – 1 rec­om­men­da­tion for clemen­cy by the Arkansas Parole Board, a meet­ing with mem­bers of the victim’s fam­i­ly, and ​“he dis­par­i­ty in sen­tence giv­en to Mr. McGehee com­pared to the sen­tences of his co-defen­dants.” On September 29, 2017, Gov. Hutchinson issued a procla­ma­tion grant­i­ng clemen­cy to Mr. McGehee.
2852017William Joseph BurnsWVAOn December 29, 2017, Gov. Terry McAuliffe com­mut­ed the death sen­tence to life with­out pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole. The state courts had found that Burns was men­tal­ly incom­pe­tent and men­tal health experts had tes­ti­fied he was unlike­ly to regain competence.
2862018Thomas WhitakerWTXOn February 22, 2018, less than an hour before Thomas ​“Bart” Whitaker was sched­uled to be exe­cut­ed, Gov. Greg Abbott com­mut­ed Whitaker’s death sen­tence to life with­out parole. Following a plea by Whitaker’s father Kent — the sole sur­vivor of an attack in which his wife and only oth­er son were mur­dered — to spare Bart Whitaker’s life, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles on February 20 unan­i­mous­ly rec­om­mend­ed that Abbott grant clemen­cy. Abbott said his deci­sion to com­mute Whitaker’s death sen­tence was based upon sev­er­al fac­tors, includ­ing the unan­i­mous board rec­om­men­da­tion, the fact that the trig­ger­per­son who killed the vic­tims did not receive the death penal­ty, the sur­viv­ing victim’s oppo­si­tion to exe­cu­tion, and the fact that Whitaker waived all future claims to parole in exchange for life in prison.
2872018William MontgomeryBOHOn March 26, 2018, Ohio Gov. John Kasich com­mut­ed William Montgomery’s death sen­tence to life with­out the pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole after the Ohio Parole Board rec­om­mend­ed clemen­cy by a 6 – 4 vote.
2882018Raymond TibbettsWOHOn July 20, 2018, Ohio Gov. John Kasich com­mut­ed Raymond Tibbetts’ death sen­tence after a juror had indi­cat­ed he would have vot­ed for life had the defense pre­sent­ed crit­i­cal mit­i­gat­ing evi­dence relat­ing to Tibbetts’ upbring­ing and the pros­e­cu­tion not false­ly argued that Tibbetts’ sib­lings had adjust­ed nor­mal­ly. Kasich said the com­mu­ta­tion was being grant­ed ​“as a result of fun­da­men­tal flaws in sen­tenc­ing phase of his tri­al.” The Governor said the fac­tors men­tioned by the juror ​“essen­tial­ly pre­vent­ed the jury from mak­ing an informed deci­sion about whether Tibbetts deserved the death penal­ty.” The Ohio Parole Board had rec­om­mend­ed denying clemency.
2892019Gregory WilsonBKYOn December 6, 2019, out­go­ing Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin com­mut­ed Gregory Wilson’s death sen­tence to life with the pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole after 30 years. Wilson, who was con­vict­ed in 1988 in a tri­al one fed­er­al judge has described as ​“one of the worst exam­ples I have ever seen of the unfair­ness and abysmal lawyer­ing that per­vade cap­i­tal tri­als,” became imme­di­ate­ly avail­able for parole. In his state­ment accom­pa­ny­ing the com­mu­ta­tion, Bevin wrote that ​“Justice should be served on all sides. It was not.” The Governor wrote that, while Wilson had been involved in a ​“bru­tal mur­der,” ​“to say his legal defense was inad­e­quate would be the under­state­ment of the year.” Wilson was rep­re­sent­ed by a lawyer who took the case for free after oth­er lawyers refused to accept appoint­ment for the $2,500 max­i­mum fee then avail­able in the state. The lawyer report­ed­ly had no office and no law books, and the phone num­ber on his busi­ness card was the phone num­ber of a local tav­ern. According to the Louisville Courier-Journal, coun­sel ​“cross-exam­ined vir­tu­al­ly no wit­ness­es and pre­sent­ed no evi­dence to sup­port a less­er penal­ty than death.” Noting that Wilson’s white co-defen­dant was giv­en a term of years and Wilson, who is black, was sen­tenced to die, Gov. Bevin wrote that the fact that the ​“actu­al admit­ted killer is now out of prison and his co-defen­dant is on death row would indi­cate that Mr. Wilson got the short end of the justice stick.”
2902019Leif HalvorsenWKYOn December 9, 2019, on his last day in office, Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin com­mut­ed Leif Halvorsen’s two death sen­tences to life with the pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole. Halvorsen admit­ted his involve­ment in the mur­ders and, as the let­ter accom­pa­ny­ing his clemen­cy peti­tion explained, had turned his life and the lives of oth­ers around. In the order grant­i­ng clemen­cy, Gov. Bevin wrote sim­ply, ​“Leif has a pow­er­ful voice that needs to be heard by more people.”
2912020Jimmy MedersWGAOn January 16, 2020, the day Meders was sched­uled to be exe­cut­ed, the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles grant­ed clemen­cy. The board cit­ed sev­er­al rea­sons for the com­mu­ta­tion, includ­ing ​“his lack of a crim­i­nal record pri­or to com­mit­ting this offense, his com­mis­sion of only one minor infrac­tion in over 30 years on death row, the jury’s explic­it desire dur­ing delib­er­a­tions to impose a life with­out parole sen­tence which was legal­ly unavail­able at the time, and every liv­ing, able juror’s con­tin­ued sup­port for such a sentence.”
2922020Nathan DunlapBCOOn March 23, 2020, in con­junc­tion with sign­ing leg­is­la­tion to abol­ish the state’s death penal­ty, Gov. Jared Polis com­mut­ed the death sen­tences of the three pris­on­ers then on Colorado’s death row to impris­on­ment for life with­out pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole. Gov. Polis refused to iden­ti­fy the the pris­on­ers by name in the clemen­cy orders, refer­ring to them only by their Colorado Department of Corrections offender numbers.
2932020Sir Mario OwensBCOSee #292
2942020Robert RayBCOSee #292
54 – 220a2020Renaldo HudsonBILRenaldo Hudson was one of 167 pris­on­ers whose death sen­tences were com­mut­ed to life with­out parole by Gov. George Ryan in January 2003. On September 2, 2020, in a series of com­mu­ta­tions grant­ed in response to the COVID-19 pan­dem­ic, Gov. J.B. Pritzker grant­ed Hudson a sec­ond com­mu­ta­tion, reduc­ing his sen­tence to time served. Gov. Pritzer cit­ing Hudson’s exem­plary con­duct and per­son­al trans­for­ma­tion in prison as grounds for the commutation.
2952021Julius JonesBOKOn November 18, 2021, four hours before Julius Jones was sched­uled to be exe­cut­ed, Gov. Kevin Stitt com­mut­ed his death sen­tence to life with­out pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole. Stitt issued the clemen­cy grant ​“on the con­di­tion that [Jones] shall nev­er again be eli­gi­ble to apply for, be con­sid­ered for, or receive any addi­tion­al com­mu­ta­tion, par­don, or parole.” Based on con­cerns about Jones’ age at the time of the offense and seri­ous doubts as to his guilt, the Oklahoma Board of Pardon and Parole had twice rec­om­mend­ed by 3 – 1 votes that Gov. Stitt com­mute Jones’ sen­tence to life with the pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole.
2962022Jesse ComptonWOROn December 13, 2022, Gov. Kate Brown announced that she was com­mut­ing the sen­tences of all 17 pris­on­ers on Oregon’s death row to life with­out parole, effec­tive December 14, 2022.
2972022Clinton CunninghamWORSee #296
2982022Randy GuzekWORSee #296
2992022Gary HaugenWORSee #296
3002022Michael HaywardWORSee #296
3012022Robert Langley, Jr.WORSee #296
3022022Christian LongoWORSee #296
3032022Ernest LotchesNAORSee #296
3042022Michael McDonnellWORSee #296
3052022Marco MontezLORSee #296
3062022Horacio Reyes-CamarenaLORSee #296
3072022Ricardo SerranoLORSee #296
3082022Matthew ThompsonWORSee #296
3092022Bruce TurnidgeWORSee #296
3102022Joshua TurnidgeWORSee #296
3112022Michael Washington, Jr.BORSee #296
3122022Tara ZystWORSee #296
3132023John HuffingtonWMDMaryland Governor Larry Hogan grant­ed John Huffington a full par­don on January 13, 2023, stat­ing that evi­dence con­clu­sive­ly showed that his ​“con­vic­tions were in error.”

* Information on these cas­es from Michael L. Radelet and Barbara A. Zsembik, ​“Executive Clemency in Post-Furman Capital Cases,” 27 University of Richmond Law Review 289 – 314 (1993) (with sub­se­quent revi­sions from Prof. Radelet and updates by DPIC).

Additional rea­sons for clemen­cy are from news accounts on file with DPIC.

1. In 1994, Earl Washington’s death sen­tence was com­mut­ed to life with the pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole by then-Governor Douglas Wilder. On October 2, 2000, DNA tests con­firmed Washington’s inno­cence, and he was grant­ed an absolute par­don by Governor Jim Gilmore. In July 2007, Governor Tim Kaine signed a sec­ond par­don grant­i­ng Washington an unconditional exoneration.

2. Gov. Rick Perry com­mut­ed the death sen­tence of Doil Lane on March 9, 2007. Lane had intel­lec­tu­al dis­abil­i­ties and the state did not chal­lenge this find­ing. Hence, the gov­er­nor’s com­mu­ta­tion was the result of the Supreme Court’s deci­sion in Atkins v. Virginia (2002) for­bid­ding the exe­cu­tion of such pris­on­ers and not nec­es­sar­i­ly for humanitarian reasons.

NOTE: There have also been a num­ber of reduc­tions of sen­tence grant­ed for judi­cial expe­di­en­cy, rather than for human­i­tar­i­an rea­sons. (See Radelet & Zsembik, above.) Judicial expe­di­en­cy includes cas­es in which a per­son­’s death sen­tence is over­turned by the courts and state law requires that the entire tri­al, includ­ing guilt or inno­cence, be done over again if a death sen­tence is being sought. Rather than go through a com­plete re-tri­al, the state some­times asks that the death sen­tence be reduced to a life sen­tence. In oth­er instances, Governors have issued com­mu­ta­tions to resen­tence for­mer death-row pris­on­ers to life fol­low­ing court dec­la­ra­tions that the state’s death-penal­ty statute is uncon­sti­tu­tion­al or to com­ply with U.S. Supreme Court rul­ings bar­ring the exe­cu­tion of juve­niles or defen­dants with ​“intel­lec­tu­al dis­abil­i­ty.” Grants of clemen­cy on these grounds are not includ­ed in the list above. In addi­tion, judi­cial reduc­tions in a death sen­tence are some­times described in lay terms as ​“com­mu­ta­tions,” but they are not acts of clemen­cy. Clemency as described on this page refers sole­ly to an action of the exec­u­tive branch that either com­mutes a pris­on­er’s death sen­tence on human­i­tar­i­an grounds or par­dons the pris­on­er for the mur­der charges that led to his or her death sentence.