TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Kate Prince on Jan 21, 2020

As part of Gov. Bill Lee’s broader push for criminal justice reform, his administration has made a series of small changes to the state’s clemency process, the Tennessean reports. Changes were made to all three forms of executive clemency — pardons, commutations and exonerations — in an effort to make the clemency checklist less burdensome for defendants. Lee’s chief counsel Lang Wiseman says the changes may not necessarily lead to more clemency grants, but would give the parole board more leeway to send cases to the governor for consideration.