Also known as: clemencies · pardon · commutation
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
An executive power by which a president or governor grants mercy to a convicted criminal. The power includes pardoning the offense entirely or commuting the sentence to a lesser punishment.
Damon Reed testifies in a products liability trial. Years earlier a governor pardoned his felony conviction for odometer tampering after Reed completed an automotive ethics program. The pardon order expressly found rehabilitation and Reed has no later serious convictions. The opposing party may not use the conviction to attack Reed's credibility.
Kevin testifies about regulatory compliance at a waste facility. Ten years earlier a specialized court annulled his illegal-dumping conviction after laboratory evidence proved he had not participated. The annulment rested on an express finding of innocence. The opposing party may not introduce the conviction to impeach him.
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A conviction that has been the subject of a pardon, annulment, certificate of rehabilitation, or equivalent procedure based on a finding of rehabilitation is inadmissible for impeachment if the person has no later conviction punishable by more than one year. The rule treats the official rehabilitation finding as removing the conviction's probative value on credibility.
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The conviction is likewise inadmissible for impeachment. The rule separately excludes any conviction that has been the subject of a pardon, annulment, or equivalent procedure based on a finding of innocence, without requiring the absence of later crimes.
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No. Rule 609(c) contains no exception when the witness vouches for another person's honesty. The pardon exception operates independently of whether the witness places credibility at issue.
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The rehabilitation-based pardon no longer bars use of the earlier conviction. The rule requires both a qualifying pardon and the absence of any later crime punishable by death or more than one year of imprisonment.
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