The Georgia House on Tuesday moved to require more transparency from the State Board of Pardons and Paroles, including making the agency provide public notice before it acts.
House Bill 71 would require the board to notify crime victims and prosecutors whenever an offender requests a pardon or to have a sentence commuted. The House voted 162-8 to send the bill to the Senate.
It also would, for the first time, require the board to make its decisions public, including each members’ individual vote.
Sponsored by Rep. Kevin Tanner, R-Dawsonville, HB 71 comes after The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported in 2014 that the board's decision-making and deliberations are done in secret and that the agency often grants offenders' freedoms without notifying victims.
“Their votes, their discussions and the information they use to make these decisions are all protected as state secrets,” Tanner said.
Tanner related the story of Tommy Lee Waldrip, who was sentenced to die last year in the murder of Keith Evans, a college student set to testify against Waldrip's son in an armed robbery case. Waldrip was convicted and sat on death row for nearly a decade before the Board of Pardons and Parole commuted his sentence to life in prison just 26 hours before he was to be executed.
Evans’ family demanded to know why their son’s killer was spared.
“The only answer they were given was it was as a secret and they couldn’t discuss it,” Tanner said. “I believe we all agree, whether we support the death penalty or not, that the Evans family deserved a better answer than ‘It’s a secret.’ ”
Tanner was careful not to criticize the current members of the board, who are appointed by the governor for seven-year terms.
“They recognize the need to fix the system,” Tanner said.
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