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Ex-state attorney general says Pa. board’s clemency-hearing policy unfair

August 12, 2008

Preate files suit for those serving life sentences

By Terrie Morgan-Besecker tmorgan@timesleader.com
Law & Order Reporter
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SCRANTON – A Scranton attorney who once served as the state’s top prosecutor has filed a federal lawsuit against the state Board of Pardons, alleging the board is violating the state constitution by arbitrarily refusing to grant clemency hearings to inmates serving life sentences.

The lawsuit filed by attorney Ernest D. Preate Jr. alleges a merit review system implemented by the board has made it virtually impossible for inmates serving life sentences to have a chance to get their sentence commuted by the governor.

“The process has become a sham,” Preate said Monday. “The Board of Pardons is supposed to apply the Constitution fairly. By not granting hearings, they are not applying the Constitution.”

The suit was filed last week in federal court in Scranton on behalf of Douglas Hollis, James Taylor, Simon Evans, Mitchell DiVentura and Diane Metzger, all of whom are serving life sentences for murders committed decades ago.

John Heaton, spokesman for the Board of Pardons, said he had not seen the suit and could not comment.

Under Pennsylvania law, inmates can seek release from prison by filing an application to commute their sentences with the Board of Pardons. The five-member board reviews each request to determine if it has merit. If so, the board will grant a public hearing -- a necessary step in the clemency process.

At the hearing, the board takes testimony from various sources, including victims. It then decides whether to recommend or deny the petition. The case then goes to the governor for a final decision.

The problem, Preate said, is the board has been unilaterally denying requests for hearings that are filed by inmates serving life sentences. If an inmate does not get a hearing, the petition automatically fails.

Preate said that since December 2005, the board has granted only one clemency hearing for a “lifer,” and that just occurred in June. Prior to that, the board denied 72 applications for hearings that were submitted by lifers, he said.

“These people have a duty to examine these applications to see if they have merit. If they have merit, give them a hearing. How can you say the Constitution is being fulfilled when 72 in a row were rejected?”

The suit alleges the board’s action violates the inmates’ right to due process because they are not being afforded a chance to present their case.

Preate is a former state attorney general who was sentenced in 1995 to serve 14 months in prison for accepting illegal campaign contributions. He regained his law license in 2001 and has been a staunch advocate of prisoners’ rights.

Preate said each of the five inmates he’s representing have been model prisoners throughout their incarceration. Each has furthered his education and has helped establish programs, including those that aid fellow prisoners and those that deter youths from crime.

Metzger, 58, was sentenced in 1974 in the death of Marti Metzger, the ex-wife of her husband. Authorities said she waited inside a car as her husband entered a home and killed the woman. She has maintained she did not know he intended to kill her.

Hollis, 49, has been in prison since 1976 for a murder he committed in Philadelphia County when he was 16.

Preate said Evans, 66, was a drug addict who killed an elderly man during a robbery in Philadelphia County in 1972; DiVentura, 54, was sentenced in 1979 in Northampton County for strangling his wife; Taylor, 66, was sentenced in 1978 in Philadelphia County for killing a man in a dispute over alcohol, Preate said.

Preate said he is not trying to excuse their actions. He believes they deserve an opportunity to have their cases heard.

“The Constitution says if you can rehabilitate yourself in prison, mercy can be shown. That’s why there is a pardons process,” Preate said. “The question is, have these people paid their debt to society, have they rehabilitated themselves and do they deserve the governor’s clemency?”

Preate said their cases are particularly troubling because each inmate had previously applied for clemency and had been granted hearings. Since then they have improved themselves further.

“These people have been up before the pardons board before in earlier decades and received favorable votes to get a hearing,” he said. “The question is what have they done since then in prison? They’ve done remarkably well.”

Terrie Morgan-Besecker, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 570-829-7179.

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