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Utah House narrows pardons power and creates life-without-parole option
Summary
The House passed companion measures restricting the Board of Pardons’ ability to commute death sentences and adding a sentencing option of life without parole; sponsor argued the bills close a gap that can return dangerous offenders to the community, while some members asked about jury incentives and conflicts were disclosed.
The Utah House on the floor in January passed companion measures aimed at tightening post-conviction outcomes in capital cases, limiting the parole route for those convicted of the most serious murders and narrowing the grounds on which the Board of Pardons may commute a death sentence.
Representative Merrill F. Nelson, the sponsor, said House Bill 68 would restore "the proper balance between the board of pardons and the court systems" by restricting commutation to grounds that have not been previously reviewed and rejected by the courts. He told colleagues the bill would prevent a three-member pardon board from overriding repeated court rulings and cited the "Hi Fi" case as an example where the board nearly commuted a…
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