Opinion ID: 867608
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Clemency power

Text: ¶ 11 The State argues that even if commutation is an official act subject to the § 41-101(B) signature and attestation requirements, article V, § 5 and article III of the Arizona Constitution interact to invalidate the legislature's so-called automatic commutation approach to the Act. Article V, § 5 reads as follows: The Governor shall have power to grant reprieves, commutation, and pardons, after convictions, for all offenses except treason and cases of impeachment, upon such conditions and with such restrictions and limitations as may be provided by law. (Emphasis added.) Thus, argues the State, the power to commute McDonald's sentence is placed solely in the governor's hands, and limiting the governor's decision to refuse clemency by requiring that he act to defeat a unanimous recommendation effectively transfers the clemency power to the Board, thereby violating article V, § 5. [2] See Response to Petition for Review at 7. ¶ 12 While the Act requires that the governor must act to deny commutation, the decision to approve or reject is still the governor's. On receipt of the Board's recommendation, the governor retains ultimate authority to grant or deny a recommended commutation. The Act's so-called automatic aspect is merely a condition prescribing the manner in which the governor must exercise the commutation power. See State v. Marquez, 127 Ariz. 98, 103-04, 618 P.2d 592, 597-98 (1980); cf. Laird v. Sims, 16 Ariz. 521, 529, 147 P. 738, 741 (1915) (limitation of governor's pardon power to cases recommended by board of pardons does not violate Ariz. Const. art. V, § 5). Under the Act, the final decision is made by the governor and no one else. The Act merely restricts the method by which the governor makes the decision, and article V, § 5 expressly permits the legislature to condition, limit, and restrict the governor's power. Cf. Laird, 16 Ariz. at 527, 147 P. at 740. If, as Laird held, the legislature has the power to limit the governor's ability to grant commutation to those felons who have been recommended by the Board, it surely has the power to restrict the manner in which the governor exercises that discretion. We see no violation of article V, § 5.