Michigan: Commutation of Sentence

The Free Press reports that Gov. Jennifer Granholm has granted a commutation of sentence to Joseph Puertas, a businessman whose family's assets were seized "in a high-profile and widely criticized drug case -- one where no drugs were ever found." Puertas, 81, who suffers from bladder cancer and congestive heart disease is expected to leave a correctional facility in July. He will have served 15 months of a 2- to 40-year sentence. An Oakland County prosecutor has not yet responded to requests for comment. The Free Press provide this background on the case:

Puertas' long, winding trip through the justice system began in 1997 when 100 drug officers, with drug-sniffing dogs, raided the MegaBowl, a bowling alley owned by the Puertas family in Orion Township, and several other family businesses. They found no drugs, no record of drug dealing and no drug paraphernalia. But they did locate $1.9 million in cash the family had in safes.

Gorcyca's office charged Puertas with drug dealing, contending the cash was proceeds from the drug business, and sought to seize the money under the state's controversial drug forfeiture laws.

The case against Puertas rested mostly on the testimony of Joseph Sweeney, a drug addict and twice-convicted felon police recruited to investigate Puertas, who had served time in prison in the 1980s for drug dealing.

Sweeney testified during Puertas' 1999 trial that he bought cocaine from Puertas at the bowling alley six times in late 1997.

But police, using hidden cameras and audio surveillance equipment, never were able to document a sale, nor did undercover officers inside the bowling alley ever witness a sale. A jury convicted Puertas of delivery of a controlled substance and running a criminal enterprise.

See this very interesting story here.

Michigan: Data

On May 14, the Associated Press reported the following:

The number of clemency requests granted by Michigan governors in the last 40 years:
Democrat Jennifer Granholm, 2003-present, 23 commutations in nearly 5 1/2 years.
Republican John Engler, 1991-2002, commuted 34 sentences over 12 years.
Democrat James Blanchard, 1983-1990, commuted six sentences over eight years.
Republican William Milliken, 1969-1982, commuted 95 sentences over 14 years.
Source: Michigan Department of Corrections

Insights: Battered Women and Clemency in Michigan

Carol Jacobsen is an award-winning social documentary artist whose works in video and photography address issues of women's criminalization and censorship. Her art has been exhibited and screened at venues worldwide. In addition to her teaching responsibilities in art and women's studies at the University of Michigan, Jacobsen serves as Director of the Michigan Women's Justice and Clemency Project (formerly the Michigan Battered Women's Clemency Project). In that capacity, she advocates for the human rights of women prisoners and seeks freedom for women wrongly incarcerated. Her projects have been sponsored by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, COYOTE, Women's Prison Association of New York, the American Civil Liberties Association, and other non-profit organizations. PardonPower asked Prof. Jacobsen about her work:

PardonPower: Was there a particular event, or series of events which led up to the creation of the Michigan Battered Women's Clemency Project and/or how did you come to be associated with the Project?

Prof. Jacobsen: Susan Fair, a former prisoner, founded the Michigan Battered Women's Clemency Project (now renamed Michigan Women's Justice & Clemency Project) in 1991, when she was released from prison. She was responding to the knowledge that too many women were serving life or long sentences for murder who had actually acted in self-defense. I had been in the women's prison filming since 1989 and was appalled to discover the same injustice. When Susan founded the Clemency Project, we joined forces to make several more films narrated by the women. In 1995, I became Director of the Project, with Lynn D'Orio as lead attorney and Lore Rogers, attorney, coordinating with us. At that time, we were under the umbrella of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). In 2005, we became a nonprofit 501(c)3 on our own. We have rotating groups of volunteers, including attorneys, domestic violence professionals, educators, prisoners and former prisoners, and students from colleges and universities throughout the state.

PardonPower: What is the difference (if any) between a pardon and a commutation in the State of Michigan? If there is a substantive difference, has the project sought both for individuals, or has it tended to focus on one or the other?

Prof. Jacobsen: Clemency is a discretionary power to remit sentences, after conviction, by means of pardon, commutation, reprieve or amnesty. Generally, a pardon is the most sweeping remission of the consequences for violating the law: it erases both the punishment and the guilt of the offender after conviction and may be absolute or conditional. Commutation shortens the offender's sentence, generally to time served, or may substitute a term sentence for a death sentence. A reprieve is a temporary suspension to postpone execution of the sentence. Amnesty usually refers to release of person convicted of political offenses. We seek clemency (any process will do!); but the Michigan form that we submit refers to commutation.

PardonPower: I am guessing most readers of this blog are familiar with the legal concept of a "battered woman," but how would you summarize it and what are some things that are commonly misunderstood, or little known about it?

Prof. Jacobsen: It is a problematic term since no woman is only a battered woman, but is a woman who has been/is being battered/beaten down by a male partner physically, emotionally, sexually, financially, verbally in any way or all of these ways. It may include hitting, slapping, punching, kicking, pushing, pinching, hair pulling, threats with guns or other weapons or objects, deliberate drowning or burning or other deliberate injuring, name-calling, threatening, raping, sexual forcing of any kind against a woman's wishes, controlling or manipulating behaviors, controlling of money, threats of harm or actual harm to the person or children or other loved ones including animals to punish or force certain behaviors, stalking, and combinations or variations of these cruel and controlling behaviors.

PardonPower: The Project's web site says, "Clemency is intensely political, and our ability to sway public opinion may be our best hope of success." Accepting the premise, do you have any thoughts on whether or not this is a good or a bad thing? Should the clemency process be more closed to the public and - as a consequence - less prone to public manipulation, grandstanding or backlash?

Prof. Jacobsen: Public openness is our best ally. Not sensational media coverage, but rather an open process. Prisons are closed systems and that makes them ripe for abuse, retaliation by officials and guards, cruelties and barbarisms of all kinds. The closed prison system allows people to be tortured in our U.S. prisons every day, every hour, every minute in the most horrible, inhuman ways. For women, it means going from a domestic sphere of violence and abuse to an institutionalized system of horror and violence. I do not believe any person would stand by and allow the tortures to go on if they could see what really occurs inside women's prisons, and realize the kinds of sadistic punishment we are meting out to human beings every day. Our criminal justice system is corrupt, obsolete, broken. The public needs to see and understand that.

PardonPower: The Project web site suggests the current Governor of Michigan has thus far "shown little interest" in your cause. Do you have the sense that there are (or have been) other governors who stand in sharp contrast, or are there states, where battered women are given due concern?

Prof. Jacobsen: Battered women have been granted clemency in many states, sometimes in large groups, as Governor Celeste did in Ohio in 1990 (26 women); Governor Weld of Massachusetts in 1991 (7); Governor Schaefer of Maryland in 1991 (8); Governor Edgar of Illinois in 1994-97 (6); Governor Chiles of Florida in 1993-95 (7); Governor Jones of Kentucky in 1996 (9); Governor Fletcher of Kentucky in 2007 (21), and others. Some governors, such as Gov. Schwarzenegger, have preferred to speed up the parole process to release battered women.

PardonPower: The Project's web site, mention of a clemency petition that was filed some time ago without response. In Illinois, a U.S. District Court judge has recently ruled that the Governor has a duty to respond to clemency petitions within a "reasonable" amount of time. Any thoughts on that?

Prof. Jacobsen: Governor Granholm took 2 1/2 years to deny 20 petitions we had submitted to her. That is grossly unjust. She has now had 12 of our petitions on her desk for 20 months without response. We have added 4 more in the past several months. Ironically, we may see our first clemencies for battered women, not due to our efforts, but due to the near-bankruptcy of our state. Nevertheless, we will celebrate every one when it comes.

MIchigan: Good Odds, Considering ...

According to this article at the Chicago Tribune, fugitive-mom-recently-turned prisoner Susan LeFevre does not have the best chance of getting a commutation of sentence from Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D), but the timing could have been worse. The article notes:

In her first term, Granholm commuted nine sentences of sick or aging inmates thought to be close to death. Yet since winning re-election and creating a clemency council early last year to help review cases, Granholm has ended 14 prison terms early -- including four this year for non-medical reasons, according to data reviewed by The Associated Press. All four offenders freed for non-health reasons had committed drug crimes resembling what landed LeFevre, now 53, in prison in 1975.

But the piece also notes Michigan's Parole Board has reviewed "thousands" of clemency requests during Granholm's tenure and recommended commutastions in only 31 instances. Granholm agreed 23 times and continues to review other cases, but she is now said to be receiving hundreds of e-mails on LeFevre's behalf. Lo, and behold, last week:

Granholm commuted the sentences of Ronald Seeger, 49, and Sally Smith, 60. Seeger has served nearly 16 years of a minimum 20-year term for delivering drugs in Oakland County. Smith has served more than 18 years of a life sentence for conspiring to deal narcotics in Oakland County. Their pending freedom comes on the heels of two drug-related commutations in February, the first time Granholm approved releasing people who weren't sick.

Michigan's previous governor, John Engler (R) only granted clemency in four cases by this point in his tenure, but granted a majority of his commutations (34) in his last year in office. Previous to Engler, Governor Jim Blanchard (D) commuted just once sentence by this point and added only five more before the end of his term.

Michigan: Editorial on Fugitive

The Detroit News has an editorial which provides the following commentary on Susan LeFevre, the fugitive from justice recently turned captive:

Under the Michigan constitution, Gov. Jennifer Granholm has the power to pardon LeFevre or commute the sentence. The process typically takes a month or two and begins with an application that goes to the 10-member state parole board. The panel reviews the case and recommends whether to commute the sentence or not. Governors and parole boards are generally wary of pardons and commuted sentences. There's a political and safety risk if the released prisoner commits a violent crime. There's no such risk here. LeFevre is expected to soon ask for the sentence to be commuted. Both the parole board and governor should approve the request. Writing mercy into the Constitution goes with the expectation it will be used at the appropriate time. This is one of those times.

See full editorial here.

Michigan: Clemency for Fugitive Mom?

In 1975, Susan LeFevre plead guilty to drug-trafficking charges and received a sentence of 10 to 20 years in prison. She was 19 years old at the time, but was making several thousand dollars a week selling cocaine. But LeFevre only served a single year of her sentence, because she climbed over a barbed-wire fence and hopped in a getaway car driven by her grandfather. LeFevre married, raised some kids and changed her name to Marie Walsh. Last week, 32 years after the escape, she was arrested in San Diego. Her attorney says that he now will petition Michigan's Democratic governor, Jennifer Granholm, to commute the nine years remaining on the 53-year old mom's sentence. Granholm has commuted only 20 sentences since taking office in 2003, and all but two of those were for medical related issues. That is to say, the inmates were terminally ill and not expected to live much longer. See story here and here.

Michigan: Rejection

Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D) has refused to grant medical parole for a former day care operator who is serving out a 6- to 15-year sentence for inflicting permanent brain damage on an infant. 51-year-old Diane Robinson was diagnosed with lung cancer that has now spread to her brain. She now asks Governor Granholm to release her so she can die at home. The response:

While the governor is indeed sympathetic to your serious medical condition and its impact on you and your loved ones, the governor is also sympathetic to the child victim of your crime and finds compelling the strong opposition expressed by the victim's family to this commutation. Under these circumstances, the governor has determined clemency is not warranted.

The infant's mother also has a lawsuit pending against Robinson. See story here.

Michigan: Commuted, But Still in Prison

Wow. Remember Larry Drum? PardonPower noted that his 17-year sentence had been commuted by Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D) back on February 15. But guess what? The guy is still in prison! It is said that Drum may walk free on April 1, because a parole board has to determine the conditions for his release and make sure there are no problems with home where he will live. Drum is 70 years old. A corrections spokesman explains, "It takes some time to process." See story here.

Michigan: Request (Update)

Previously (here) PardonPower reported on the case of one Charles Fackelman who was sentenced to more than five years in prison on four felony charges for pulling a gun on a man - Randy Krell -and kicking in a neighbor's door while pursuing him. The incident occurred after Krell participated in a car chase that led to an accident that killed Fackelman's 17-year-old son. As Krell was given only a six-month sentence, supporters of Fackelman have initiated a petition asking Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D) to commute his sentence. Now Circuit Judge Joseph A. Costello Jr. is responding to criticisms of his decision making in the case. Costello says that he was bound by the law and, as a result, the sentence was proper. As he puts it, "All procedures were followed." See story here.

Michigan: Report / Request

This article reports that, during her five years in office, Governor Jennifer Granholm (D) has ordered commutations in only 20 of the 3,438 requests that have come before her, and mostly for "medical reasons."

Now comes an "online petition" that asks her to commute the prison sentence of one Charles Fackelman who threatened two men with a loaded handgun and could serve up to 20 years in prison for it. The incident occurred after a car crashed into a tree, killing Fackelman's 17-year-old son. Fackelman's brother calls the sentence "excessive" as Charles is "not the criminal type." Ironically, the driver of the car received only six months for negligent homicide. The brother also called the minimum sentence of 5 3/4 years a "death sentence" for the 47-year old Fackelman. The online petition, and additional information on the case, can be found here. A lively group discussion of the case can also be found here.

Michigan: Commutations

Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D) has commuted the sentences of two drug offenders. A spokeswoman said Larry Drum's application "was thoroughly reviewed, and given his age, given that he does not pose a threat to the community, the recommendation to the governor was that his sentence be commuted." Drum is 70 and has been in prison over 15 years. Granholm also commuted the sentence of Vickie L Hoskins, 40, of Oakland County. The commutations were the first approved by Granholm for non-medical reasons since she became governor. See full story here and here.

Michigan: Petition and Controversy

The Daily Telegram (MI) reports that Judge Tomothy P. Pickard and prosecutor Irving Shaw have been recently informed that a petition has been filed with the Michigan Parole Board calling for the release of 71-year old Wilbur Scott. More specicfically, the petition (filed by Scott's sister - a former Tecumseh mayor and city council member) asks that he be considered for a pardon or commutation. The Telegram reports that, in 1965, Scott "deliberately" shot his wife in the back with a rifle as she tried to get into a car. When the victim's mother attempted to shield her daughter from furhter attack, Scott shoved her out of the way and fired two more bullets into his the victim's back. Judge Pickard says that he must, "in the strongest terms, oppose any such action by the Governor.” He also notes that, "In a state which has no capital punishment for first degree murder, life in prison should mean life in prison.” Prosecutor Shaw also says that he “vigorously opposes and objects to any reprieve, commutation or pardon in this case.” See full story here.

Michigan: Request

In a report here, the Flint Journal notes Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D) is being asked to consider the clemency application of a 70-year old prisoner whose case is getting "widespread attention." Larry Drum was arrested in 1986 after delivering small amounts of cocaine to an informant and cocaine was found in his roommate's apartment bedroom. He was then sentenced to life in prison under a since-changed law that was intended to snare "drug kingpins." With 17 years behind him, Drum will be in prison at least until he is 82. In 2006, the state parole board recommended against his commutation. But Drum repeated his case for freedom before the board again this past November. Laura Sager, a consultant with Families Against Mandatory Minimums, says the sentence is the by-product of a "Draconian law."