Earlier this month, Governor Gavin Newsom asked the Supreme Court to allow him to commute Elaine Wong’s 1981 sentence of life without parole plus 17 years for first degree murder, two counts of attempted murder, assault with intent to commit murder, and robbery with sentence enhancements. (See here.) The court lodged the request and accompanying documents as confidential. Last week, the San Bernardino District Attorney’s office filed a motion to unseal the record.
Newsom’s is the second attempt at clemency for Wong. The first failed when a divided court over four years ago denied then-Governor Jerry Brown’s request for a clemency recommendation. 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 denial of a request implies that a clemency grant would be an abuse of power.
Under a policy announced in 2021, the DA’s motion should cause the court to return to Newsom the Wong clemency recommendation request record with directions for him to show why at least some of the record should remain confidential. Once he has done that, the court is likely to make available to the public a redacted version of the record. (See here, here, and here.)
The record from Governor Brown’s unsuccessful Wong clemency request was partially unsealed in 2021. We don’t know if a redacted version of the record submitted by Newsom would include any information other than what has already been made public.
Related:
Court allows clemency for one, returns files to be redacted for four others
“Newsom grants clemency, but freedom isn’t certain”
Why is secrecy the default on gubernatorial clemency recommendation requests?
