The Angolite, a news mag­a­zine pro­duced by inmates at Louisiana’s Angola State Penitentiary, high­lights the com­mu­ta­tion of Herbert Welcome, a man with men­tal retar­da­tion whose death sen­tence was lift­ed by Governor Mike Foster in 2003. The arti­cle fol­lows Welcome’s decades-long strug­gle to have his sen­tence com­mut­ed, includ­ing a 1988 rec­om­men­da­tion for clemen­cy that was nev­er signed. Years lat­er, Welcome’s clemen­cy effort was reignit­ed by his attor­neys from the Center for Equal Justice in New Orleans and his spir­i­tu­al advi­sor, leg­endary rock gui­tarist Larry Howard. It gained ground after the Supreme Court’s 2002 rul­ing in Atkins v. Virginia mak­ing it uncon­sti­tu­tion­al to exe­cute those with men­tal retar­da­tion. In all, Welcome spent 21 years on death row before the Louisiana Pardons Board unan­i­mous­ly vot­ed to rec­om­mend clemen­cy dur­ing a hear­ing ordered by Governor Foster. The Angolite arti­cle includes an overview of the clemen­cy hear­ing state­ments deliv­ered by experts such as Robert Perske, as well as a case overview by Welome’s attor­ney, Nick Trenticosta. (The Angolite, May/​June 2003) See Mental Retardation. See also, Resources.

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