A top official of the Justice Department Thursday enlisted the help of the New York bar to draft clemency petitions for prison inmates serving inordinately long sentences for non-violent drug crimes.
“We envision that attorneys will assist potential candidates in assembling effective and appropriate commutation petitions— ones which provide a focused presentation of the information the department and the president need to consider—in order to meaningfully consider clemency for similarly situated petitioners,” Deputy Attorney General James Cole told members of the Criminal Justice Section of the New York State Bar Association at the group’s annual meeting.
