clemency

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Assad May Be Offered Clemency Deal

Syrian leader could get invite to Geneva peace talks

(Newser) - To end the conflict in Syria, American and British officials are considering offering Bashar al-Assad safe passage to peace talks in Geneva and a chance to avoid being prosecuted for his regime's crimes against civilians if he gives up power, according to the Guardian . "It is hard to...

Troy Davis: I Want to Take a Polygraph Test

In effort to save him, Georgia Democrats urge prison strike

(Newser) - Troy Davis is hours from death, but he’s not giving up. The Georgia death row inmate, who claims he was wrongly convicted of killing a police officer in 1989, wants to take a polygraph test. "Mr. Davis believes he is innocent and he wants to show it,"...

Georgia Refuses to Spare Troy Davis' Life

Decision means tomorrow's execution will likely occur

(Newser) - Troy Davis will die tomorrow. Georgia's pardons board today rejected a last-ditch plea for clemency for the death row inmate, despite calls from the likes of Pope Benedict, Amnesty International, and Jimmy Carter for his sentence to be commuted. The panel announced its decision after hearing hours of testimony...

For Felon Mayor-Elect, Redemption Is Denied

Small town OK with past, Ariz. board isn't

(Newser) - Christopher Linder persuaded the people of a small Oklahoma town to elect him as their mayor despite his criminal past, but he couldn't persuade a clemency board in Arizona to scrub his felony convictions. The 33-year-old former gang member, convicted of transporting marijuana and taking part in a drive-by...

Hiker Can't Go Free: Iran
 Hiker Can't Go Free: Iran 
Sep 11, 2010 5:50 AM CDT

Hiker Can't Go Free: Iran

About-face on Ahmadinejad's clemency indicates internal friction

(Newser) - Iranian authorities abruptly halted plans to release an American woman today after more than a year in jail with two friends, dashing their mothers' hopes and pointing to the internal rivalries within Iran's leadership. The about-face was an embarrassment to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who had personally intervened to get Sarah...

Don't Bury Clemency with Clemmons
Don't Bury Clemency with Clemmons
opinion
Dec 9, 2009 5:42 AM CST

Don't Bury Clemency with Clemmons

Mike Huckabee's decision was unfortunate, but just

(Newser) - Mike Huckabee's mercy in granting clemency to cop killer Maurice Clemmons was horribly betrayed, but that's no reason to reject the very notion of clemency, writes Michael Gerson. Strong arguments in favor of the role clemency plays in the justice system were made at the time of the Founding Fathers,...

Clemmons Not Huckabee's 1st Freed Killer
Clemmons Not Huckabee's 1st Freed Killer
Joe Conason
Dec 1, 2009 7:28 AM CST

Clemmons Not Huckabee's 1st Freed Killer

Ex-gov said to be a sucker for cons who got religion

(Newser) - Maurice Clemmons isn’t the first killer Mike Huckabee released as governor thanks to his religious sense of mercy. Huckabee granted more commutations and pardons than any governor in the 40 years before him. Some, no doubt, were warranted by Arkansas’ draconian drug laws, but many more came courtesy of...

Va. Gov Denies Clemency to DC Sniper

Muhammad will be executed tonight in Virginia

(Newser) - Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine has denied clemency for Beltway sniper John Allen Muhammad, clearing the way for Muhammad's execution at 9pm tonight. Muhammad, whose appeal was rejected by the Supreme Court yesterday, will die by lethal injection, reports the Richmond Times-Dispatch . His 2002 shooting spree with younger accomplice Lee Boyd...

Scotland Defies US, Releases Lockerbie Bomber

(Newser) - The only person convicted in the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am flight over Lockerbie, Scotland, has been released on compassionate grounds and will return to Libya, reports the BBC. Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi was sentenced to life for the murder of 270 people, but he is suffering from prostate cancer...

Tax Cheats Flood IRS, Looking to Come Clean

Inquiry into Swiss banks leads hundreds of evaders to come clean

(Newser) - A crackdown on tax evasion has led to a flood of wealthy Americans lining up to reveal their offshore accounts to the IRS, reports the Wall Street Journal. A limited-time offer of lower fines, coupled with the ongoing probe of Swiss bank accounts held by UBS, has produced a stampede...

Bush Rejected Pardons for Milken, Other 'High Rollers'

'He seems to go out of his way to deny the high rollers, the prominent people,' source says

(Newser) - George Bush formally denied pardons for several prominent politicians and businessmen on his last day in office, the Justice Department told the Los Angeles Times today. Among those whose pleas fell on deaf ears were Michael Milken, a businessman convicted of insider trading and stock evasion, and Randall Cunningham, a...

Holder Pushed Clemency for Puerto Rican Militants

Obama's attorney-general pick helped commute sentences for PR nationalists

(Newser) - Barack Obama’s attorney-general nominee fought for clemency for 16 militant Puerto Rican nationalists during his time in the Clinton administration, the Los Angeles Times reports. Eric Holder pushed Justice Department subordinates to pave the way to Clinton’s clemency grant, documents show, sparking fury from law-enforcement officials who’d...

Bush Retracts Pardon for Son of Big GOP Donor

White House cites new information in halting process for developer Isaac Toussie

(Newser) - President Bush withdrew a presidential pardon today after it emerged that the father of a convicted Brooklyn developer donated $28,500 to the Republican Party, CNN reports. The president’s counsel approved clemency for Isaac Toussie on charges of mail fraud and false statements to federal officials, White House spokeswoman...

Conrad Black Asks Bush for Clemency
Conrad Black Asks Bush for Clemency
Nov 21, 2008 9:49 AM CST

Conrad Black Asks Bush for Clemency

Doing time for fraud, media giant wants sentence commuted

(Newser) - Onetime media mogul Conrad Black is seeking clemency from President Bush in hopes that his 6½-year jail sentence will be commuted, the CBC reports. Black, the former chair of newspaper firm Hollinger International, was convicted on fraud and obstruction of justice charges in 2007 for channeling $6 million from...

Requests for Pardons Flood White House

Petitioners include the American Taliban, but not Scooter Libby

(Newser) - President Bush is nearing the end of his term, and felons are coming out of the woodwork in historic numbers to ask for pardons and reduced sentences, the New York Times reports. It is not unusual for there to be a spike in pardons granted by a president in his...

Huckabee Rocked Little Rock
Huckabee Rocked
Little Rock
Dec 22, 2007 11:55 AM CST

Huckabee Rocked Little Rock

Ex-governor intimidated colleagues, backed controversial reforms

(Newser) - Mike Huckabee surged to the top of the polls in the Republican presidential contest partly because of his squeaky clean image, but the persona emerging from years as governor of Arkansas is quite different, the New York Times reports. Supporters and critics alike remember him as a hard-charging iconoclast with...

Commutation Decision Marks Serious Shift

As Texas governor, Bush seldom overruled court decisions

(Newser) - In six years as governor of Texas, George W. Bush issued 20 pardons and commuted one death sentence. As president, he seemed to be hewing to the same standard, granting 113 pardons (against more than 1,000 appeals) and commuting just four sentences. The fourth commutation sends the Times in...

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