RS 572.4 - Board of Pardons; rules, regulations, and procedures; notice; restrictions on applications; time periods for additional review
A. Written rules, regulations and procedures for consideration or clemency applications shall be adopted by the Board of Pardons by January 1, 1980. Such rules, regulations and procedures shall be adopted in accordance with the procedures of R.S. 49:953(A)(1) and (2) and shall become effective upon approval of the governor.
B.(1) Before considering the application for pardon of any person the board shall give written notice of the date and time at which the application will be heard and considered, at least thirty days prior to the hearing, to the following:
(a) The district attorney, the sheriff of the parish in which the applicant was convicted, and in Orleans Parish, the superintendent of police.
(b) The applicant.
(c) The victim or the spouse or next of kin of a deceased victim. The notice is not required when the victim, or the spouse or next of kin of a deceased victim, advises the board in writing that such notification is not desired. The notice shall advise the victim, or the spouse or next of kin of a deceased victim, of their rights with regard to the hearing.
(d) Any other interested person on whose behalf a written request for such notification has been made by any other person who has a right, under law, to present testimony.
(2) The victim, or the spouse or next of kin of a deceased victim, shall be allowed to testify at the hearing. The victim, or the spouse or next of kin of a deceased victim, shall be allowed to testify directly, or in rebuttal to testimony or evidence offered by or on behalf of the offender, or both.
(3) The district attorney and any other persons who desire to do so shall be given a reasonable opportunity to attend the meeting and be heard.
C. Before setting a hearing on an application for pardon or commutation of sentence, notice of application to the board for clemency or commutation of sentence shall be published on three separate days within a thirty-day period of time, without cost to the state, in any newspaper recognized, at any time during the six-month period prior to or following the publication of the first notice, as the official journal of the governing authority of the parish where the offense occurred for which the person was convicted.
D. Notwithstanding any provisions of law to the contrary, any applicant who has been sentenced to life imprisonment shall not be eligible to apply to the board for a pardon or commutation of sentence for a period of fifteen years after being sentenced by the trial court, except that periods of time prior to the imposition of the sentence in which the defendant was in actual custody for the offense for which he was sentenced to life imprisonment shall be included in computing the fifteen-year period. If the application is denied, the applicant shall be notified in writing of the reason for the denial and thereafter may file a new application to the board no earlier than five years from the date of action by the board. Any subsequent applications shall not be filed earlier than five years after the immediately preceding action taken by the board. However, the provisions of this Subsection shall not apply when the board determines that new and material evidence that, notwithstanding the exercise of reasonable diligence by the applicant, was not discovered before or during his trial, is available, and if it had been introduced at the trial, it would probably have changed the verdict or judgment of guilty.
E.(1) When no action is taken by the governor on a recommendation for clemency issued by the board, the person seeking clemency shall not be required to reapply to the board and the recommendation shall not expire upon the expiration of the governor's term in office and may be reviewed by the next governor to take office.
(2) The board shall adopt rules pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act to provide for the provisions of this Subsection, but the rules shall not require the person seeking clemency to reapply when no action is taken by the governor on the board's recommendation that the person receive clemency.
Added by Acts 1975, No. 593, §2, eff. July 1, 1975. Amended by Acts 1979, No. 490, §1; Acts 1986, No. 402, §1; Acts 1986, No. 369, §1; Acts 1988, No. 381, §1; Acts 1990, No. 535, §1; Acts 1997, No. 822, §1; Acts 1997, No. 828, §1; Acts 1999, No. 448, §§1, 2; Acts 2004, No. 331, §1; Acts 2014, No. 6, §1; Acts 2017, No. 267, §1; Acts 2018, No. 561, §1.