Gov. Mike Pence, who has said he wants Indiana to be a leader in giving a second chance to criminals who've served their time, has received 34 pardon recommendations from the Indiana Parole Board. But so far, he hasn’t granted a single one.
Pence says that though his public safety team didn’t present any cases last year that met his high standards, but that he's taking a fresh look and expects to make decisions before the end of the year.
Pence's predecessor, former Gov. Mitch Daniels, gave a total of 62 pardons during his two terms – far fewer than those recommended by the parole board.
As Pence considers whether to issue his first pardon, many requests are stuck in limbo awaiting action.
Adam L. Jackson was sentenced to three years for robbery in Allen County in 1999. He said in his petition that two of his friends planned the robbery of a man outside a restaurant, and he had no knowledge of that plan until it occurred.
"I have done everything I can to right my wrong doing and only ask for a second chance," he said in his petition.
And Paul G. Napier, who was sentenced to four years for possession of a pipe bomb in 1993 in Kosciusko County, said in his petition that he was pulled over in the middle of the night with a homemade bomb he intended to set off in an open field "to see if it worked."
Napier said in his petition that he knows there's nothing he can do to make up for his "poor decisions in the past" but that he's trying to be "the best husband, citizen and soldier I can be."
