Pubdate: Thu, 23 Dec 2004
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Copyright: 2004 Hearst Communications Inc.
Contact:  http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/388
Author: Maria Alicia Gaura
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)

GOVERNOR PARDONS 3 EX-CONS

He Breaks 6-Year Moratorium on Forgiving Criminals

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger broke a six-year state moratorium on forgiveness 
Wednesday, offering "full and unconditional" pardons to three men convicted 
of drug crimes in the 1970s.

The pardons were the first to be issued by a California governor since Pete 
Wilson left office in 1999. Wilson issued 13 pardons during his eight years 
in Sacramento; his successor, former Gov. Gray Davis, issued none before he 
was recalled last year.

Schwarzenegger handed out pardons Wednesday to Alec Webster of Santa Cruz, 
Antonio Garcia of Hacienda Heights (Los Angeles County) and James Brown of 
Arvada, Colo.

Webster was 24 years old in 1975 when he was convicted of selling 21 pounds 
of marijuana and about 500 tablets of LSD to an undercover police officer. 
He completed a two-year, eight-month probation term in 1978.

Schwarzenegger's proclamation cited Webster's decades of "exemplary 
conduct," years of academic study at UC Santa Cruz and Stanford, and 
volunteer work as factors in the pardon.

Garcia was convicted in 1978 of selling $20 to $30 worth of heroin to an 
undercover officer in Los Angeles. He completed probation and drug 
rehabilitation and later became an attorney and director of a drug 
treatment program.

Brown was convicted in Riverside County in 1971 of stealing a bottle of 
prescription pain medication from a dentist's office and then driving while 
under the influence of the drug. He completed drug treatment and went on to 
become a college professor and drug treatment counselor.

Julie Soderlund, a spokeswoman for Schwarzenegger, had no comment on the 
governor's approach to granting pardons or plans for future pardons. In 
contrast to recent governors, Ronald Reagan issued 575 pardons during his 
term in office, and Jerry Brown issued 403, according to state records.

The three men pardoned Wednesday were among 655 people with pending 
applications, some dating to the Wilson administration, Soderlund said. 
About 25 new applications arrive in the governor's office each month.

While pardons do not erase crimes from the public record, they do allow the 
recipients to serve on juries, be employed as a state parole officer or 
county probation officer and own a weapon. A pardon may also remove some 
barriers to employment and professional licensing.

Advocates for prisoners and the accused were underwhelmed by the governor's 
announcement.

"Well, it's Christmas, and I guess it's great that he's forgiving these 
people for past transgressions," said Ken Thiesen, communications director 
for the Bay Area Legal Aid Society. "But these sound like three out of 
potentially thousands of similar cases, and that seems pretty marginal to me."

Olivia Wang, an attorney with the San Francisco group Legal Services for 
Prisoners With Children, was blunt.

"Oh, big deal," she said. "Why isn't he granting real pardons, and letting 
people out of prison who have served their time? Why can't he let those 
people go home?"

Schwarzenegger has allowed 76 parole recommendations forwarded by the state 
Board of Prison Terms to go forward and has reversed 117, said Tip Kindel, 
a spokesman for the Department of Corrections.

Davis allowed only six of 361 cases that came before him to proceed to 
parole, Kindel said.
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