Prosecutor Wants to Halt Clemency Reviews Ordered for Nearly Every Death Row Inmate in Louisiana

A Louisiana prosecutor said he plans to file an injunction on Tuesday to halt the state’s pardon board from setting clemency hearings after almost every death row inmate in the state filed an application to potentially commute their death sentences to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney Hillar Moore said the unprecedented push by fifty-six of the state's 57 inmates who are facing death in Louisiana — which was backed by Gov. John Bel Edwards —  had serious implications and cannot go on without court review.

"The unexpected campaign to reduce 56 death row sentences to life in prison has raised serious concerns among the victims' families and those who prosecuted these cases," Moore's office said in the press release, according to local outlet NOLA.com. Further review must take place to "ensure that any further decisions are in accordance with established law, rules and policies."

Moore's office did not immediately return a request for comment by The Messenger.

The injunction will seek to void a decision by the Louisiana Board of Pardons and Committee on Parole to set hearings for those death row prisoners after Edwards directed them to consider downgrading their sentences last month.

The inmates filed a clemency plea in June after a bill to abolish the death penalty failed during Louisiana's legislative session.

Edwards, a Democrat who will not seek reelection due to term limits, had previously expressed support for eliminating the death penalty.

"It is no secret where my personal beliefs lie with respect to the death penalty. I am guided by my deep faith and taking my pro-life stance against the death penalty," Edwards wrote in his letter to the pardon board.

The end of Edwards' term in January means this may be the last hope for Louisiana's death row inmates, who simultaneously filed their applications.

Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry, a front runner to become the state's next governor, staunchly opposes mass clemency and has said that he would bring back firing squads and the electric chair to carry out the executions, which have been on hold.

Moore, a Democrat, had earlier considered a possible run for governor but decided against it, NOLA.com reported.

His move to block the clemency hearings is at odds with much of his own party. He is one of several prosecutors who oppose mass clemency on behalf of victims’ families. 

But advocates and attorneys representing the death row inmates say the legal system in Louisiana is broken and that the proposed hearings could right several injustices that took place at trial.

"This lawsuit is just another baseless attempt to block the Pardon Board and Governor Edwards from taking a close look at Louisiana’s broken death penalty system," Cecelia Kappel, executive director of the Capital Appeals Project, which led a group of attorneys who represent death row prisoners, said in a statement.

"Mr. Moore is well aware that these cases involve serious problems, including innocence, intellectual disability, serious mental illness, racism, youth, and egregious prosecutorial misconduct," Kappel continued. "The Board should proceed with hearings, and the Governor will then be able to consider any recommendations of clemency the Board makes."

Louisiana’s death penalty system is woefully prone to error, advocates say,  with an 83% reversal rate in capital cases since 1976. 

The applications for clemency describe flaws in individual cases, including some with defendants whose mental illness, intellectual disability, innocence claims were not considered properly at trial. Others cite official misconduct.

Three-quarters of Louisiana death row prisoners are people of color, according to the Capital Appeals Project.

The state has not carried out an execution since 2010, and officials have attributed the most recent execution delays to difficulties obtaining the drugs needed for lethal injection, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.