imported post
Here is an interesting article on Sunday's Times-Dispatch sort of on the subject.
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/n...litics/article/PARD07_20100206-200204/322675/
By JIM NOLAN
Published: February 7, 2010
The last year of Gov. Timothy M. Kaine's term brought a recordsetting flood of gubernatorial forgiveness.
The former Virginia governor granted 53 "simple" pardons, three "absolute" pardons and eight "conditional" pardons and restored the voting rights of more than 1,300 felons in 2009.
The "Pardons, Commutations, Reprieves and Other Forms of Clemency" are detailed in the 420-page "Senate Document No. 2" that Kaine submitted to the General Assembly on his last day in office.
The 53 "simple" pardons granted by Kaine in 2009 were just two shy of the 55 that the Democrat handed out in his first three years as the state's chief executive, and twice as many as any of his predecessors.
Republican Govs. John N. Dalton and Linwood Holton, Kaine's father-in-law, pardoned 54 Virginians each during their four-year terms.
A simple pardon, the most commonly issued type, does not erase a criminal conviction. It's simply the state's way of forgiving, if not forgetting, a crime. A governor usually grants it to people who give back to their communities.
A notation that a pardon has been issued can be placed on the offender's criminal record. It can help explain or mitigate the obstacles when the recipient seeks a job or a travel visa, or adopts a child.
Kaine also handed out three "absolute" pardons in 2009 after having issued only one in the previous three years.
An absolute pardon is a governor's not-guilty determination that automatically restores a person's civil rights. They include the right to vote, to hold public office and to sit on a jury. An absolute pardon also allows an individual to apply to the court where the conviction was entered to expunge the record of the offense.
Two of the three pardons went to Richmond men later cleared by DNA testing as a result of evidence found in the files of the late forensic serologist Mary Jane Burton.
Kaine also granted eight "conditional" pardons in 2009 that resulted in the conditional release of felons who have not completed their sentences. Those released on conditional pardons must meet stringent requirements under probation and parole and avoid further trouble with the law.
Three of Kaine's eight conditional pardons went to members of the "Norfolk Four," sailors convicted in 1997 of the rape and murder of an 18-year-old newlywed Navy wife in Norfolk.
Kaine also restored the civil rights of a record 4,402 felons during his term, including more than 1,300 in 2009 -- a total eclipsed only by the 1,500 whose rights were restored in 2008.
Many of those whose rights were restored had violent pasts, or drug, robbery or larceny convictions. Rights restoration allows felons to vote, hold public office, serve on juries and become a notary public.
"The number of pardons and restoration of rights granted throughout the governor's administration is relative to the number of requests that individuals filed for his consideration," said Lynda Tran, Kaine's former communications director at the governor's office, explaining the governor's pardoning pattern.
"There were ebbs and flows in the quantity of requests" that came into the Secretary of the Commonwealth's office, said Tran, who now works for Kaine as national press secretary for Organizing for America, under the umbrella of the Democratic National Committee, of which he is chairman.
She noted the spike in 2008 before the presidential election and said the Secretary of the Commonwealth's office was inundated with requests in 2009, "especially as the administration was drawing to a close."
Virginia and Kentucky are the only states that do not grant automatic restoration of rights once a felon has completed his sentence. Virginia requires nonviolent felony offenders to have maintained a clean record for three years and violent offenders to be crime-free for five years. Roughly 300,000 Virginia felons who have served their time do not have the right to vote.
In the closing weeks of his administration, Kaine had encouraged people with felony convictions to apply to have their rights restored, underscoring his concern that the incoming administration of Gov. Bob McDonnell would impose additional conditions on the restoration of rights.
The administration left 333 applications for rights restoration for the new administration to consider. Bernard L. Henderson, who served as deputy secretary of the commonwealth under Kaine, said efforts were made not to leave a lot of holdover work for the new administration.
Before his election, McDonnell said he supports expediting the process of rights restoration but indicated that he was inclined to impose more stringent requirements on felons seeking to have their rights restored, such as requiring evidence of community service.
"I would hope Governor McDonnell will look at these just as Governor Kaine did," Henderson said. "And if he finds reason to believe there has been a sincere effort at redemption, he won't be concerned about the numbers."
