Governor Newsom has sent to the Supreme Court requests for recommendations to commute six people’s sentences, including two sentences of life without parole. Newsom needs the recommendations because California’s Constitution requires them before a governor can grant clemency to anyone who has been “twice convicted of a felony.”
The six, with their criminal records as stated in the Governor’s cover letters to the court, are:
Laurence Perry. “In 1997, Mr. Perry was convicted of first degree murder with a sentence enhancement. He was sentenced to a prison term of life without the possibility of parole. In 1992, Mr. Perry sustained a prior felony conviction for possess/purchase drugs.”
Glenn Hanson. “In 1994, Mr. Hanson was convicted of first degree murder with sentence enhancements. He was sentenced to a prison term of life without the possibility of parole. Mr. Hanson has prior felony convictions for robbery (1980, 1983) and attempted robbery (1983).”
Jessie Milo. “In 2004, Mr. Milo was convicted of three counts of attempted murder with sentence enhancements. He was sentenced to a prison term of 170 years to life. Mr. Milo has prior felony convictions for burglary (1998) and evading a peace officer (2001).”
Ralph Arreguin. “In 2008, Mr. Arreguin was convicted of robbery with a sentence enhancement. He was sentenced to a prison term of 35 years to life. Mr. Arreguin has prior felony convictions for receiving stolen property (1986), robbery (1987, 1992), attempted robbery (1987), and drug possession (1998).”
Baleegh Brown. “In 2012, Mr. Brown was convicted of assault with a semiautomatic firearm and robbery with sentence enhancements. He was sentenced to a prison term of 34 years. Mr. Brown has prior felony convictions for robbery (2007) and burglary (2009).”
April Pitts. “In 2012, Ms. Pitts was convicted of robbery with a sentence enhancement. She was sentenced to a prison term of 30 years to life. Ms. Pitts has prior felony convictions for forgery (2004), receiving stolen property (2004), burglary (2007), and check fraud (2007).”
Unlike a recent presidential commutation of a different felon’s sentence, Governor Newsom says these commutations would not necessarily lead to freedom. Instead, he told the court he is “contemplating” that the commutations would, for the LWOP prisoners, make them eligible for parole suitability hearings and, for the others, make them eligible for earlier parole hearings. (Related: “Newsom grants clemency, but freedom isn’t certain”.)
The court has said it reviews clemency recommendation requests under a deferential standard. (See here and here.) And Newsom has a nearly perfect record — he withdrew one request before a ruling, but the court has approved all 86 of his other requests. That’s better than former Governor Jerry 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.
The Governor’s requests were filed under seal. They will remain shielded from the public unless someone moves to unseal the records. If a motion is filed, the court will likely require Newsom to justify keeping all or part of the records under wraps and will then probably make redacted records available for viewing. (See here and here, and recently, here.) LWOP commutation requests often draw unseal motions.
[Update: The San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office today filed motions to unseal the Perry and Hanson records.]
