Governor Newsom last week asked the Supreme Court to recommend eight clemencies. Four requests are to allow him to commute life without parole sentences. A court recommendation is a constitutional prerequisite for a gubernatorial grant of clemency to anyone who has been “twice convicted of a felony.”
The eight, with their criminal records as stated in the Governor’s cover letters to the court, are:
De’Mel Bullock, pardon. “In 2004 and 2005, Mr. Bullock was convicted of drug-related felony offenses.”
Homer Brown, commutation. “In 1982, Mr. Brown was convicted of first degree murder with a sentence enhancement. He was sentenced to a prison term of life without the possibility of parole. Mr. Brown has prior felony convictions for burglary (1973, 1977), receiving stolen property (1974), and grand theft auto (1975).”
James Durbin, commutation. “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).”
Jerry Davenport, commutation. “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.”
Lonnie Alexander, pardon. “In 1990 and 1993, Mr. Alexander was convicted of drug-related felony offenses.”
Nathaniel Criss, commutation. “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.”
Sophorn Dy, pardon. “In 1991, Mr. Dy was convicted of possession of a deadly weapon. In 1996, he was convicted of second degree robbery.”
Veronica Rael, pardon. “In 2002 and 2004, Ms. Rael was convicted of drug-related felony offenses. In 2006, Ms. Rael was convicted of grand theft.”
The four LWOP commutations wouldn’t require any prisoner releases, at least not right away. Rather, the Governor told the court that, for each of the four, 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 has previously approved 16 Newsom requests for commutations of LWOP sentences. He has not sought clemency for any death row inmates. (See here.) Notably, two of those 16 requests were approved after the court had denied earlier requests by Governor Brown for the same people. (See here and here.)
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 92 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 from the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office.
