The Supreme Court today recommended pardons for Jeffrey Hunerlach and John Nolen, Jr. It’s been 11 months since Governor Gavin Newsom requested the recommendations, which are constitutional prerequisites to the clemency grants because Hunerlach and Nolen have both been “twice convicted of a felony.”
According to the court’s docket, which is the only information now publicly available, Hunerlach was convicted in 1990 and 1998 of felonies that are not specified, and Nolen was convicted of unspecified felonies in 1988, 1989, and 1992, and was subsequently convicted of driving under the influence in 1994 and 1995.
So far, Newsom is 15 for 15 in getting court approval for his pardons and sentence commutations, which is considerably better than former Governor Jerry Brown, who had the court block 10 intended clemency grants.
There are now 20 clemency recommendation requests pending before the court. The oldest three were submitted in May 2020, the most recent seven just last week.
Related:
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“Free speech groups ask high court to open clemency records”
Motions fail to pry loose Supreme Court’s clemency denial reasons
Justice Liu invites resubmission of clemency requests that the Supreme Court rejected last year