Governor's right to pardon... (appointed, law, adjudication)

[CptnRn]

The voters are being asked to approve:

Proposition 9 - The constitutional amendment authorizing the governor to grant a pardon to a person who successfully completes a term of deferred adjudication community supervision.

Personally I am opposed to granting the Governor any additional powers. I did some research on this remembering allegations that Gov. Ma Furgeson had abused the power to grant pardons in the past.

Back in 1936 Texas voters took away the Governor's right to issue pardon's because they felt it had been abused.

Ma Furgeson was governor of Texas twice, 1925-1927 and 1933-1935, during which she issued almost 4,000 pardons.

Miriam A. Ferguson - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mrs. Ferguson's infamously generous granting of pardons was her way of relieving the overcrowded conditions in Texas prisons.[citation needed] During two non-consecutive terms in office, Mrs. Ferguson issued almost 4,000 pardons, many of them to free those convicted of violating prohibition laws. Though never proven, rumors persisted that pardons were available in exchange for cash payments to the governor’s husband. In 1936, voters passed an amendment to the state constitution stripping the governor of the power to issue pardons and granting that power to a politically independent Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles (see Capital punishment in Texas). [9]

At present in order to be granted a pardon the convicted must go through the appeals processes with the courts, after which...

...a defendant may also appeal to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles (a division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice) for commutation of the sentence.
The Board, after hearing testimony, decides whether or not to recommend commutation to the Governor of Texas. The Governor can accept or reject a positive recommendation of commutation, but has no power to override a negative recommendation (the law was changed in 1936 due to concerns that pardons were being sold for cash under the administrations of former Governor James E. Ferguson and later his wife and Texas' first female Governor Miriam A. Ferguson).[8] The only unilateral action which the Governor can take is to grant a one-time, 30-day reprieve to the defendant.


It should be noted that the Board members are gubernatorial appointees (though their terms overlap gubernatorial elections) and, thus, will most likely share the same political viewpoints as the Governor who appointed them.

It is not clear to me if this proposed additional authority to grant pardons will also be subject to a positive recommendation by the Board of Pardon's and Paroles. If it is I could support it, if its not then I'm opposed to granting the governor that much more political power.

[nativetexasgal]

Originally Posted by CptnRn

The voters are being asked to approve:

Proposition 9 - The constitutional amendment authorizing the governor to grant a pardon to a person who successfully completes a term of deferred adjudication community supervision.

Personally I am opposed to granting the Governor any additional powers. I did some research on this remembering allegations that Gov. Ma Furgeson had abused the power to grant pardons in the past.

Back in 1936 Texas voters took away the Governor's right to issue pardon's because they felt it had been abused.

Ma Furgeson was governor of Texas twice, 1925-1927 and 1933-1935, during which she issued almost 4,000 pardons.



At present in order to be granted a pardon the convicted must go through the appeals processes with the courts, after which...



It is not clear to me if this proposed additional authority to grant pardons will also be subject to a positive recommendation by the Board of Pardon's and Paroles. If it is I could support it, if its not then I'm opposed to granting the governor that much more political power.

First, of all it's "Ferguson," not "Furguson," in case someone wants to read about Miriam "Ma" Ferguson.

Texas is considered to have a weak governorship as it is. I'll have to think about this issue a bit more. The Board of Pardons and Paroles can be just as political as the governorship, BTW.