Opinion ID: 1354899
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Judicial Review and Interpretation.

Text: As stated in Jamison v. Flanner , quoted above, a court, upon being presented with a purported pardon, has authority to examine the pardon to see that it is valid upon its face. Jamison, 228 P. at 85. A commutation of sentence may be effected by the Governor only by his acting in formal compliance with terms of section 4 of Article IV of the [New York] Constitution and the implementing statutes. There is no showing of formal compliance here. People ex rel. Reynolds v. Martin, 3 N.Y.2d 217, 165 N.Y.S.2d 26, 144 N.E.2d 20, 23 (1957). The following are some examples of why pardons have been declared invalid:  Failure to comply with the requirement that either (1) notice be given prior to its issuance in the county where the crime was committed, or (2) include in the pardon a statement that such notice was not given. Horton v. Gillespie, 170 Ark. 107, 279 S.W. 1020, 1024-25 (1926).  Failure of the person seeking remission of forfeiture to forward to the Governor with his application the opinion of a majority of the officers of the county where the forfeiture occurred attesting to the propriety of doing so. State v. Dunning, 9 Ind. 20, at -4 (1857).  Failure of the person seeking the pardon to give notice of the application for pardon to the district judge or county attorney where the offense occurred, or by formal publication. Jamison, 228 P. at 99.  Failure to obtain the recommendation of the Board of Pardons. Rich v. Chamberlain, 104 Mich. 436, 62 N.W. 584, 586 (1895). Historically, Kentucky courts have also examined the validity of executive pardons. The most famous instance arose out of the contested gubernatorial election of 1899. The three candidates for governor were William S. Taylor, William Goebel, and John Young Brown. On the face of the returns, the board of elections certified the Republican, Taylor, and his lieutenant governor candidate, John Marshall, the winners, and they were sworn into office. The Democrat, Goebel, and his lieutenant governor candidate, J.C.W. Beckham, filed an election contest before the Democrat-controlled legislature. On January 30, 1900, Goebel was mortally wounded on the capitol grounds by a gunshot fired from the Secretary of State's office. On February 2, 1900, the legislature declared Goebel and Beckham to have been the winners of the election. Goebel was sworn in as governor before he died on February 3, 1900. Beckham was sworn in as Governor after Goebel's death. However, in defiance of the legislative declaration, Taylor retained possession of the executive building, archives, and records, and continued to act as governor. Taylor v. Beckham, 108 Ky. 278, 56 S.W. 177, 177-78 (1900). Ultimately, our predecessor court held that the legislative determination that Goebel and Beckham had won the election was conclusive of the controversy. Id., 56 S.W. at 184. Meanwhile, Taylor, Secretary of State Caleb Powers, and others were indicted for conspiracy to the murder of Goebel. Powers was brought to trial in March 1900. John Young Brown (the third gubernatorial candidate in the 1899 election) served as one of his defense attorneys. On March 10, 1900, during the course of the trial, Taylor purported to issue an executive pardon of Powers. The trial court refused to recognize it. On appeal, the Court of Appeals held that Taylor was not the de jure governor of Kentucky on March 10, 1900, thus the pardon was invalid. Powers v. Commonwealth, 110 Ky. 386, 61 S.W. 735, 737-38 (1901). In Adkins v. Commonwealth , our predecessor court declared a pardon invalid because it had been procured by fraud. Adkins, 23 S.W.2d at 280. (Even the former governor who issued the pardon joined the action as a party plaintiff.) It is not the right of the Governor to issue the pardon that is in question, nor is there an interference or usurpation by the courts with his constitutional powers in that regard. To declare the pardon invalid is in effect but to deny the accused of all legal right thereunder and to prevent him from taking advantage of the wrong which he has practiced on the commonwealth. Id. Finally, it is elementary that a person cannot be pardoned for conduct that has not yet occurred or of which the chief executive is unaware. And if it is improperand constitutionally impermissibleto pardon an offense which has not yet been committed, it is no more proper to pardon an offense which is not yet known to have been committed .... Knowledge of the commission of the offense must exist before the specific intent to pardon it can be formed; it is on that intent that the validity of a pardon depends. Macgill, supra, at 84 (footnote omitted). And that, of course, is one reason why a pardon issued before formal accusation is invalid. Even prior to Kentucky's 1890 Constitutional Convention, discussed at length infra, our predecessor court held that, while a pardon could issue prior to conviction, it could not issue until after the pardoned person had been formally charged with the offense to be pardoned. A fine or forfeiture cannot be remitted until it has either been adjudged or the offense shall have been so charged and defined, in some judicial procedure for enforcing its legal penalty, as to identify it, and make the remission effectual as a bar to any other prosecution for the same act. And the power of pardon is certainly as comprehensive as that of remission, and may be more so. But, in all cases alike, the exercise of the executive prerogative of remission or pardon relieves from the offense, and discharges the accused from its legal penalty; and this may be done as well and effectually before as after formal conviction. Commonwealth v. Bush, 63 Ky. (2 Duv.) 264, 265 (1865) (emphasis added). President Ford's pardon of Richard Nixon prior to indictment provides no precedent to the contrary; the only court challenges to the validity of that pardon were dismissed for lack of standing to challeng[e] the pardon on behalf of the public. McCord v. Ford, 398 F.Supp. 750, 754-55 (D.D.C.1975); Koffler v. Ford, Civil No. 74-1406, slip op. (D.D.C. Sept. 25, 1974) (discussed in McCord ). [25] The Nixon pardon has been accurately characterized as an anomaly. Macgill, supra, at 72. Nor can Adkins be cited as authority for the proposition that a pre-indictment pardon is valid. While the attempted pardon in Adkins was, as here, issued prior to indictment (presumably because the governor was leaving office the next day), 23 S.W.2d at 277, the pardon was, in fact, issued after formal charge and a preliminary hearing finding probable cause. Id., 23 S.W.2d at 278. See discussion in Part v. of this opinion, infra, of when criminal proceedings are instituted so as to trigger the right to exercise the pardoning power. Regardless, our predecessor court did not address that aspect of the pardon's validity but declared the pardon invalid because it had been procured by fraud. Id., 23 S.W.2d at 280. [26] As pointed out in the passage quoted supra from Commonwealth v. Bush, another reason there can be no pre-indictment general pardon is that, otherwise, the pardoned person could not plead the pardon as a bar to double jeopardy. Other reasons include (1) to assure that the pardon will be given effect only with respect to the offense intended to be pardoned, and (2) to protect the citizenry against executive irresponsibility. For these reasons, there has always existed the requirement of specificity. General words have also a very imperfect effect in pardons. A pardon of all felonies will not pardon a conviction or attainder of felony; (for it is presumed the king knew not of those proceedings) but the conviction or attainder must be particularly mentioned. . . . 4 Blackstone, supra, at . The Framers of the U.S. Constitution considered three restrictions on the pardoning power, in addition to the impeachment restriction, and rejected all three, indicating an intent to give the president the same pardoning prerogatives that had been afforded the kings of England. Macgill, supra, at 82-83. [T]hey conferred upon the President such powers as the King of England had enjoyed, but no more. Specificity in the language of pardons, sufficient to apprise all concerned of the offenses intended to be pardoned, and evidencing the grantor's knowledge of such offenses, was a due process limitation upon a power subject to no substantive restriction. The very character of the limitation was consistent with the tenor of the Convention's work, to secure and confirm the protections from executive irresponsibility their parliamentary predecessors had won in the preceding century. No modification was suggested at the Convention; the limitation [of specificity] can be presumed to have been imported into the presidential pardoning power of Article II. Id. at 83. If a completely general pardon may be granted, it might lead to extensive abuses. For instance, such a pardon might be framed for any and all crimes committed by persons later found to have authorized a certain grievous act. Boudin, supra, at 35. Compare the pardon language of Governor Fletcher's Executive Order 2005-924, viz: any and all persons who have committed or may be accused of committing, any offense up to and including the date hereof, relating in any way to the current merit system investigation being conducted by the special grand jury .... Obviously, Executive Order 2005-924 does not satisfy the requirement of specificity or even indicate knowledge of the specific offenses being pardoned. In that respect, the attempted pardon is invalid. Under Kentucky law, an attempted pardon that is invalid in part is invalid in toto. Hamilton v. Commonwealth, 458 S.W.2d 166, 166 (Ky. 1970).