The state-level charges, formally unveiled late on Monday, also cannot be pardoned by Georgia’s governor under the state’s constitution. Instead, the southern US state has an independent board that issues pardons, but such requests can only be made five years after a sentence is served.
Lock him up! Lock him up! Lock him up!
From the horses mouth, so to speak:
https://pap.georgia.gov/parole-consideration/pardons-restoration-rights
To qualify for a Pardon for offenses other than sex offenses which require you to be listed on Georgia’s Sex Offender Registry:
● You must have completed all sentence(s) at least five (5) years prior to applying.
● You must have lived a law-abiding life during the five (5) years prior to applying.
● You cannot have any pending charges.
● All fines must be paid in full.
So basically you can’t get a pardon for a trumped up life sentence until 5 years after you die?
Something tells me they were thinking about a VERY SPECIFIC demographic when they wrote those laws and they never imagined THIS PARTICULAR VERY SPECIFIC demographic would be held to the same kind of standard.
Up until 2019, South Carolina elected it’s national guard general. They passed that law in 1886, you know, just in case someone from a demographic that’s very specific, was appointed by the governor who could potentially be of the same demographic.
Being racist sounds like it’s utterly exhausting.
So basically you can’t get a pardon for a trumped up life sentence until 5 years after you die?
That would have to be correct, although it is the Pardon and Parole Board, so there may be some other definition for “completed all sentence(s)” which would consider having gotten parole as a completion of the prison sentence.
Still, I remain confused about the purpose of GA laws around pardon. You’ve already served your sentence, receiving a pardon means you admit guilt (does it? in Georgia?) - so what even is the point of a pardon in GA?
Dunno about this particular cicumstance but up here in canada land, when you seek a pardon it expunges your criminal record except in the case where you re-offend, allowing folks who have served their time to reintegrate into the work force. There are caveats to this but in general this is the role pardon serves up here.
You’re 100% right.
I think there’s a few things to unpack that I find a bit personally conflicting. Firstly, I like the idea that in a world with perfect justice systems you can formally forgive someone for what they did. However, where it falls short is that once your sentence has been served there should be no further penalty from society (even though we know there is via job discrimination at a minimum).
What I also like is that there is a board to ensure pardons don’t occur for cronies. Trump had examples, as did Clinton, among others. I think it could be a suitable if an executive has the power and the board can overturn.
What’s distressing is your points, because justice is not perfect. What relief does someone have from an unjust law or malicious prosecution?
While this is true, I absolutely believe that there are people who are scheming out ways to change this [regulation / law / policy / whatever].
the establishment of the state board of pardons and paroles, and its duties, are part of the state constitution (art iv, sec ii). the bit about them only being able to act after conviction is, also. the rest (except regarding violent offenders. life sentences, etc) is only policy or legislative and absolutely a target.
