Idaho Supreme Court Rules Governor Has Authority to Reject Clemency Recommendation, Reinstates Death Penalty for Gerald Pizzuto

The Idaho Supreme Court has ruled that the state’s con­sti­tu­tion per­mits a gov­er­nor to reject clemen­cy rec­om­men­da­tions made by the Commission of Pardons and Parole, revers­ing a low­er court’s deci­sion that had blocked the state from exe­cut­ing ter­mi­nal­ly ill pris­on­er Gerald Pizzuto (pic­tured). The rul­ing may allow Idaho to car­ry out its first exe­cu­tion in more than a decade.

The August 23, 2022 deci­sion effec­tive­ly rein­states Pizzuto’s death sen­tence, which the Commission of Pardons and Parole had vot­ed to reduce to life with­out parole. ​“Any aggres­sive pur­suit of a death war­rant at this point for Mr. Pizzuto would not only be bar­bar­ic, but also a clear waste of time, resources, and tax­pay­er mon­ey,” said Pizzuto’s attor­ney, Deborah Czuba. ​“We believe the Commission of Pardons and Parole made a com­pas­sion­ate and rea­soned deci­sion, and that there is still time for Gov. Little to take the wise and moral action to allow Mr. Pizzuto to die a nat­ur­al death in prison.”

On December 30, 2021, the Idaho Commission of Pardons and Parole vot­ed 4 – 3 to rec­om­mend that Pizzuto’s death sen­tences be com­mut­ed to life with­out parole. The com­mis­sion based its rec­om­men­da­tion on Pizzuto’s numer­ous med­ical prob­lems, which include advanced blad­der can­cer, chron­ic heart and coro­nary artery dis­ease, coro­nary obstruc­tive pul­monary dis­ease (COPD), and Type 2 dia­betes with relat­ed nerve dam­age to his legs and feet. Pizzuto has been in hos­pice care since 2019, when doc­tors esti­mat­ed his life expectan­cy at less than a year. ​“This rec­om­men­da­tion is one of mer­cy due to Mr. Pizzuto’s cur­rent med­ical con­di­tion and evi­dence of decreased intel­lec­tu­al func­tion­ing,” the major­i­ty wrote. ​“Mr. Pizzuto has served 35 years in prison and his phys­i­cal con­di­tion, as well as the fact that he will nev­er be released from prison, leaves him as very lit­tle threat to others.”

Governor Brad Little imme­di­ate­ly reject­ed the commission’s rec­om­men­da­tion. Pizzuto’s attor­neys filed a legal chal­lenge to the governor’s author­i­ty to reject the deci­sion, argu­ing that the state con­sti­tu­tion gave com­mu­ta­tion pow­er sole­ly to the com­mis­sion. On February 4, 2022, Second Judicial District Court Judge Jay Gaskill ruled in favor of Pizzuto. Little appealed the case to the Idaho Supreme Court.

In a unan­i­mous rul­ing, the state’s high court found that the gov­er­nor makes the final deci­sion on com­mu­ta­tions. ​“While the com­mu­ta­tion pow­er remains whol­ly vest­ed in the exec­u­tive branch through the Commission (of Pardons and Parole), the 1986 amend­ment to the con­sti­tu­tion is clear that the Legislature now deter­mines how that pow­er oper­ates,” Justice Gregory Moeller wrote in the opin­ion of the court. ​“This allowed the Legislature to include an addi­tion­al require­ment of guber­na­to­r­i­al approval for the com­mu­ta­tion of capital offenses.”

An Idaho statute gives the gov­er­nor final author­i­ty over clemen­cy deci­sions in death-penal­ty cas­es. However, Idaho’s con­sti­tu­tion men­tions only a governor’s author­i­ty to grant reprieves or respites of lim­it­ed dura­tion. The appar­ent con­flict between the statute and the con­sti­tu­tion had nev­er before reached the courts because Pizzuto’s case is the first time an Idaho gov­er­nor has been at odds with the Commission of Pardons and Parole in a death-penal­ty case. The com­mis­sion had only rec­om­mend­ed clemen­cy for a death-row pris­on­er once before. Its 1996 clemen­cy rec­om­men­da­tion for Donald Paradis was accept­ed by Governor Phil Batt. Paradis was later exonerated.

The state is expect­ed to seek an exe­cu­tion war­rant for Pizzuto, who pre­vi­ous­ly faced an exe­cu­tion date of June 2, 2021. Judge Gaskill stayed that exe­cu­tion to allow for com­mu­ta­tion pro­ceed­ings. Idaho’s last exe­cu­tion was ten years ago, when it exe­cut­ed Richard Leavitt on June 12, 2012.