Gov. Robert Ehrlich pardoned 17 people Friday, continuing with his unique philosophy of frequently granting clemency to reformed criminals.
Friday?s action brings Ehrlich?s total number of pardons in office to 231.
“This has been a central component of the government?s criminal justice policy,” said Ehrlich?s spokesman, Henry Fawell. “The governor believes these individuals have gone to great lengths to better themselves. His clemency program is a national model.”
Granted to people who have served their sentences for crimes ranging from theft to drug distribution, the pardons clear those people?s criminal records.
Ehrlich?s pardons have gained him national recognition, according to Margaret Colgate Love, consulting director of the American Bar Association?s Commission on Effective Criminal Sanction.
“A lot of state governors don?t use their pardon power at all,” Love wrote in a report on clemency. “Indeed, it appears that the only two incumbent chief executives who approach their pardoning responsibilities with any amount of proper respect are Governor Robert Ehrlich of Maryland and President Josiah Bartlet of ?The West Wing.?”
David Blumberg, chairman of the Maryland Parole Commission, said each of the pardoned men and women have “taken it upon themselves to improve their lives and become law-abiding citizens.”
A 58-year-old man who was convicted of larceny in 1971 was the oldest pardoned Friday. The youngest was a 25-year-old convicted of theft in 2000.
