The Supreme Court today recommended that Governor Newsom commute the sentences of three people serving life without parole sentences and that another felon be pardoned. The recommendations, made at Newsom’s request, are constitutional prerequisites to the clemencies, as they are for anyone who has been “twice convicted of a felony.”
The commutation recommendation recipients, and their criminal histories as reported in the Governor’s requests, are:
Nathaniel Criss: “In 2002, Mr. Criss was convicted of first degree murder. He was sentenced to a prison term of life without the possibility of parole. In 2003, Mr. Criss sustained an in-prison felony conviction for possessing a weapon.”
Jerry Davenport: “In 1989, Mr. Davenport was convicted of first degree murder, robbery, and attempted robbery with sentence enhancements. He was sentenced to a prison term of life without the possibility of parole. In 1983, Mr. Davenport sustained a prior felony conviction for robbery.”
James Durbin: “In 2005, Mr. Durbin was convicted of first degree murder and robbery with a sentence enhancement. He was sentenced to a prison term of life without the possibility of parole. Mr. Durbin has prior felony convictions for robbery (1988) and petty theft with prior (1993).”
The recommended pardon is for Jose Moran: “In 1995, Mr. Moran was convicted of receiving known stolen property, the transport or sale of a controlled substance, and possession of a controlled substance while armed with a loaded firearm.”
The LWOP commutations won’t lead to any releases, at least not right away. Rather, in each request, the Governor told the court he “is contemplating a commutation of sentence that would make [the prisoner] eligible for a parole suitability hearing.” (Related: “Newsom grants clemency, but freedom isn’t certain”.) The court’s recommendation letters quote the Governor’s contemplation, suggesting the court might not have gone along with the commutations if it meant the prisoners would immediately walk free.
Including the three today, the court has now approved 20 Newsom requests for commutations of LWOP sentences. He has not sought clemency for any death row inmates. (See here.) Notably, two of those 20 requests were approved after the court had denied earlier requests by Governor Jerry Brown for the same people. (See here and here.) A third such request is pending. (See here.)
Overall, Newsom has a nearly perfect clemency record: he withdrew one request before a ruling, but the court — applying a deferential standard (see here and here) — has approved all 105 of his other requests. (Not counting eight requests that are still pending, including four LWOP commutation requests.) That’s better than former Governor Brown, who had the court without explanation block 10 intended clemency grants. The denial of a request implies that a clemency grant would be an abuse of power.
In July, the court made public redacted versions of Criss’s, Davenport’s, and Durbin’s clemency files after the San Bernardino District Attorney’s office filed motions to unseal the files. No part of the files would have been available absent the motion. (See here and here.)
