Very unfortunately, I have confirmed through two Freedom of Information Act requests that Illinois Governor J. B. Pritzker has yet to grant any clemency petitions in 2024 (as of June 3rd, 2024). Although I do not have specifics, I am aware of multiple petitions for clemency having been denied by…
During the second half of 2023, Governor Pritzker granted a total of seventeen (17) pardons, in various forms, to the same number of petitioners and those results are summarized as follows: one (1) pardon; eight (8) pardons authorizing expungement; one (1) pardon based on innocence; five (5) commutations of sentence;…
During April and May, 2023, Governor Pritzker granted a total of thirteen (13) pardons, in various forms, here in our state. On April 18th, five (5) petitioners with cases from various counties within Illinois, ranging in dates from 1981 to 2002, had their sentences commuted to “parole eligible”. In addition,…
In a recent response to my Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request seeking information about number and types of pardons granted between mid-June, 2022 and early-April, 2023, the Chief Legal Counsel, and FOIA Officer, for the Illinois Prisoner Review Board has advised that a mere fifteen (15) individuals have received…
On this Fourth of July holiday, while many of us are enjoying the abundant freedoms our great nation has to offer, others are not so fortunate. One group of people that comes to mind in that regard would be those incarcerated, either now or in years past, or individuals otherwise…
I have been receiving numerous calls from people wanting to inquire about the status of their, or their loved ones’, clemency petitions. Please understand that I write these posts in an attempt to share knowledge on various clemency (and expungement/sealing) related issues, but that I am just a solo practitioner,…
The Illinois Prisoner Review Board has just announced that it has postponed the public hearings available to clemency petitioners that were originally scheduled for January 10th through 14th, 2022 to a later, to-be-determined date. Updates to the hearing schedule should be published on the Prisoner Review Board’s website, under the…
Not quite two (2) Fridays ago, perhaps in advance of the upcoming Easter holiday as is common tradition, Governor J. B. Pritzker granted a total of thirteen (13) Petitions for Executive Clemency. Most of these grants were in the forms of a pardon authorizing expungement of the underlying case or…
Hello and Happy New Year to all! I have just received the official press list of the 20 individuals to whom Governor Pritzker has granted executive clemency authorizing expungement and I can advise that this list includes, as usual, people with both misdemeanor and felony convictions, ranging in nature from…
After reviewing a batch of clemency petitions in both November and December, 2018, and granting just a few petitions each time (including commuting the sentences of six young men who were given lengthy prison sentences for what were described as “minor” infractions at a southern Illinois youth correctional facility on…