I’m asking the factual question whether it’s possible for a governor to pardon people who are merely charged with a crime. There’s a thread in the Pit about the situation in Kentucky but I’m interested in the more general question. I’ve always thought that a pardon came after a conviction, which doesn’t appear to be the case here.
Is this possible? Is it possible in some states and not others? What if Governor A pardons Joe Felon in October, but Joe isn’t on trial until March when Governor B is in office? Thanks.
A pardon before a conviction is perfectly possible, and in fact moots a trial.
However - key distinction here - a governor or president may not pardon before the crime is committed, since that would permit the chief executive to unilaterally abrogate the criminal code.
I learned this when I was asking about Tom Clancy’s most recent novel, in which he has a President issue blank pardons for crimes that might be committed after his term of office was over.
I haven’t read Clancy’s latest, but I’m going to take a guess anyway.
It’s a spy novel staple: the president has a secret, illegal team of agents that reports only to him, The agents kill and otherwise break the law, supposedly for the greater good. To protect (and reassure) the members of the team, the president signs secret, undated pardons. If they get prosecuted later, the agents fill in the date. (If the President is still in office when this arises, they put in yesterday’s date. If it’s after he left office, they put in the day he left office.)
Are you sure you didn’t read it? Because that’s pretty much what happens.
Jack Ryan, America’s Greatest American, is President. It’s not clear whether or not he ever got actually elected or for how many terms, but even he must step down one day. But even though he is much beloved by the people and they love everything he did, they elect his arch-nemesis Ted Kennedy … I mean Ed Kealty as President. And that’s just going to ruin everything.
But Ryan so loveth the world that he gave unto them his only begotten son. And threw in two nephews as well. Before leaving office, he sets up a secret international spy agency that nobody knows about, despite the fact that it employs hundreds of people and operates out of Pennsylvania. And this organization is able to tap into the communications line that runs between the CIA and the NSA and break all their codes so they know everything. And their mission is to find the bad guys and kill them. Seriously, I think that was an actual quote. And it’s all legal because President Ryan signed a stack of blank Presidential Pardons before leaving office. Just fill in the blanks and you’re free. (Let’s hope Osama bin Laden doesn’t get his hands on one - wouldn’t that be embarassing.) Of course the first assassination takes place in Italy, where those pardons will be meaningless, but I guess nobody notices.
Did I mention that the first people they recruit to be assassins are Ryan’s own son and his two nephews? Because the immediate family of the President would be so inconspicous I guess. And oh yes, the two nephews are twin brothers.
And that this whole operation is financed by investing in the stock market based on the secret information from the intercepted cables? Because it’s not enough to be conservative pro-military anti-liberal family-values All-Americans; you’ve also got to show your support for free market capitalism. Although it helps to have insider information. Hope they don’t have to waste too many of those pardons on SEC arrests.
I’ve always been a Clancy fan. I even got through White Rabbit. But The Teeth of the Tiger finally did it for me. It’s like he didn’t even bother trying this time.
If there were some doubt as to the authenticity of the pardon, then a witness might help establish its provenance. But to be legally effective, it only needs to come from the chief executive. The President alone may pardon any offense against the United States; the governor of a state alone may typically pardon any offense against that state - no witness needed.