December 7 – In a rare exercise of little-used executive power, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy granted clemency to five people convicted of long-ago drug and alcohol-related crimes.
In a written statement the day before Thanksgiving, Dunleavy said he had pardoned William V. May for a 1999 drunken driving charge; Richard A. Vicknair on a 1970 drug sales charge; Daniel J. Smith on a 2010 drug abuse charge; Daniel W. Woods for a 2002 charge involving people under the age of 21 on alcohol-licensed premises; and Kit A. Stavrum for a 1982 drug sales charge.
The pardon, his office said, is Dunleavy’s first governorship. Former Governor Bill Walker pardoned one person during his term.
In the statement, Dunleavy said clemency “is a tool that recognizes when people have paid their debt to society, taken responsibility and rebuilt their lives.” These five individuals, through their actions, have warranted a second chance that clemency can provide, and it is inspiring. to recognize their efforts.”
Dunleavy did not elaborate on why he chose to pardon these five people, among many who have applied for pardons during his tenure as governor. The Alaska Department of Law signed off on the pardons, concluding that they “would not benefit any personal or financial interest” of the governor in all five cases. Dunleavy’s office declined an interview request and would not answer questions about how the people pardoned were selected, instead referring to the written statement.
A public records request from the Daily News for clemency requests and data on the number of people who have applied had not been fulfilled as of Thursday.
Public records show that a person with the same name and date of birth as Vicknair appears to now be a pastor in Washington. A person with the same name as Kit Stavrum is listed as an officer of a Republican county organization in Oregon. Attempts to contact the leniency recipients by telephone and email were unsuccessful.
In Alaska, people with convictions can apply through a process that includes a review by the Alaska Board of Parole and the Executive Clemency Advisory Committee, which includes three members appointed by the governor. The governor has the final say on pardon decisions.
The current members of the Executive Clemency Advisory Committee are Ralph Samuels, a former Republican lawmaker; Lonzo Henderson, the former head of the parole board; and Carol Fraser, a hotel manager. Henderson’s term would have expired in March 2024, and Foster’s in March 2023. The governor’s office did not respond to questions about the current status of the board and whether Henderson and Foster had been reappointed.
Alaska’s first governors freely exercised their clemency power, with only Governor Bill Egan granting 99 pardons. Later governors such as Wally Hickel and Tony Knowles made only a handful of clemency offers during their terms.
But in 2005, with little consultation and just before leaving office, Governor Frank Murkowski pardoned the executives of a construction company convicted of negligent homicide in the avalanche death of a construction worker in Cordova. Public outrage followed. In 2007, the Alaska Legislature approved sweeping changes to the clemency system, including increased involvement of the Alaska Board of Parole and victims’ rights advocates. It wasn’t the only controversial pardon Murkowski granted when he resigned: He also pardoned the son of a state official the governor himself had appointed for felony theft charges. In 2010, the man, Ryan Sargento, shot and killed a rival drug dealer and was later convicted of murder.
The next two governors, Sarah Palin and Sean Parnell, did not pardon anyone. Between at least 2007 and 2017, requests for clemency never even reached the governor’s office, according to a report by the state ombudsman. They stopped at the parole board, which did not forward them for further consideration. The ombudsman notes that no process has ever been set up to comply with the 2007 law changes. Governor Bill Walker’s administration worked to restore the clemency process in 2018. In an interview, Walker said he chose in 2018 to pardon one person: a Nome man convicted of theft while in high school, which labeled him a felon and impaired his ability to handle firearms. possess, limited. The man wanted to teach his children to hunt for a living, Walker said.
“I thought, ‘Well, this is it,’” he said.
Many of the applicants, he said, were people who were “kind of in their jobs, but couldn’t move up because of their track record,” he said.
Walker granted the pardon without a press release or announcement, he said.
“It’s a constitutionally mandated process. I’ve started it again and I’m glad Governor Dunleavy is continuing the work,” he said.
Since 2018, the governor has received 317 clemency requests, according to the Department of Corrections. Of these, 206 applications were rejected.
There are currently 105 applications pending with the governor’s office, the department said.
Alaska’s clemency process remains flawed, said Nick Feronti, an attorney with the Northern Justice Project who has researched clemency requests. According to data Feronti collected, the state said the governor had denied 203 clemency requests as of February 2022. At the time, there were 66 cases pending on the governor’s order.
Feronti said he found an extensive and complicated process being used, but with an extremely low success rate among applicants.
Clemency is a “woefully underused power of the governor,” Feronti said. “If there’s a way to get people outside and being productive again, we should all want to do it.”
Correction: After the original version of this story was published, the Daily News learned that former Governor Bill Walker had pardoned one person during his time in office. Walker’s pardon had not previously been public. This story has been updated with information about his clemency decision.
