The campaign for clemency continues at St. Thomas and around the country

Prof. Mark Osler continues with other thought leaders to push the Obama administration to move faster on clemency.  Initiatives to turn back the overreach of sentencing that led to mass incarceration are chronicled in an Atlantic Monthly piece.

When the administration granted clemency to 214 people on August 3, Mark praised the announcement but urged a more expedited review of thousands of additional claims before the administration runs out of time. [http://www.politico.com/story/2016/08/obama-commutes-214-sentences-226624].

And Osler’s path breaking Federal Commutations clinic achieved some individual victories out of August 3 announcement, with three clients being granted clemency. UST law students Marc Spooner ’12, Ashley Bennett ‘13, Derek Hansen ‘13, Eric Hylok ’15 and Jamie Waldon ’15 handled those cases.

Jamie and Eric also have been Minnesota based fellows of NYU’s Clemency Resource Center (CRC) for the past year.  Three of Jamie’s CRC clients were also granted clemency on August 3.  Jamie and Eric are joining the UST clinics this fall as adjunct faculty in the Federal Commutations clinic.

Our friends across town at the University of Minnesota law school, led by Professor JaneAnne Murray, also cheered the grant of clemency to one of their clients.  [https://www.mprnews.org/story/2016/08/04/state-law-school-clemency-projects-help-shorten-drug-sentences].