Last month, Governor Gavin Newsom asked the Supreme Court to allow him to commute five long prison sentences, including four of life without the possibility of parole. (Related: “Newsom grants clemency, but freedom isn’t certain.”) The state constitution requires a governor to get an affirmative court recommendation before granting clemency to anyone who has been “twice convicted of a felony.”
The records for the five recommendation requests were lodged under seal. Last week and this, motions to unseal the records were filed in the four LWOP matters by San Bernardino’s District Attorney and by the Association of Deputy District Attorneys for Los Angeles County.
According to a now-standard procedure, a clemency file remains completely closed unless a third party timely moves to unseal it. Only if a motion is made does the court require the Governor to justify keeping parts of the file confidential. The court then typically allows public access to only a redacted file the Governor submits. (See here, here, and here.)
These might be the first clemency unseal motions made by district attorneys. Prior motions have been made by the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation, an organization that says “[i]ts purpose is to assure that people guilty of committing crimes receive swift and certain punishment in an orderly and constitutional manner,” and by the First Amendment Coalition, which is “dedicated to advancing free speech, open government and public participation in civic affairs.”
[March 7 update: The San Bernardino District Attorney’s motions are here, here, here, and here. The Association’s motions are here, here, here, and here.]
