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We now have a significant amount of clarification on current procedures for hearings before Alabama’s Board of Pardons and Paroles. Specifically, these clarifications are related to the order in which cases are heard and how many speakers each applicant is allowed. There have also been changes to the manner in which cases are heard.

If you have an interest in a hearing either for yourself or someone close to you, it will be helpful to know a bit more about what to expect at the hearing.

Order of hearing cases: In the past, cases were called based a numbering system. The earlier you arrived to get in line (they opened the doors at 7:30) the lower your Continue reading ›

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We have obtained an Alabama Legislative Services Agency analysis of cases heard in 2021 by the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles. The numbers in this report are not encouraging, and demonstrate several disturbing trends, both for paroles as well as pardons.

Among parole applicants, only 15.7% were granted parole. This means that the average parole applicant in Alabama in 2021 has a 84% chance of being denied.

And it gets even worse from there.

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There is a ton of buzz regarding Alabama’s new expungement law, particularly the provisions making some of those who have felony convictions eligible for expungement. We have been and continue to field lots of calls from people interested in pursuing pardons and then expungements under the new law.

While the new law sounds good in theory, in practice things are a bit more complicated.

Under the new law, a person who has been convicted of a felony offense (and not all felony offenses are eligible) first must obtain a pardon from the State of Alabama prior to becoming eligible for expungement.

But wait there’s more….

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It’s all to rare that we at Skier & Associates get to share actual good news out of the Alabama legislature, so the changes to Alabama’s Expungement law, which take effect this Summer, come as a very pleasant surprise to us. Some of the changes are those we have been advocating for in this space and elsewhere for years. Other changes were unexpected but still mostly positive.

The most dramatic change is a new provision allowing for those CONVICTED of many misdemeanor and felony offenses to be eligible for expungement under certain circumstances. We have written many times about the faulty logic behind excluding those who have received full pardons from the State of Alabama from expungement eligibility. This law addresses that issue. Further, the law clarifies some technical issues that caused confusion among Courts and practitioners, and revises the scheme for determining filing fees for expungement applicants. Continue reading ›

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Each Spring when the Alabama Legislature convenes in Montgomery, we at Skier & Associates look with a sometimes wary eye to see what new laws will emerge from the session.

We are happy to say that there are several promising pieces of legislation in the pipeline this year, and some of these could have a positive impact on our clients. This post will briefly explore two of these measures that will have the most impact on the people we serve.

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Here at Skier & Associates we have noticed a larger than usual number of potential clients calling our offices for advice and help AFTER they have already had a hearing on a Pardon or Parole request that did not go their way. We cannot emphasize enough that waiting until after the Board has already considered your case is not the best time to reach out to us. Clearly the best time to contact a lawyer for help is prior to a hearing, preferably several weeks or months out.

There are many reasons for this, but the two most important will be discussed here: First, the Board’s extremely limited ability to reconsider their actions, and second the importance of giving the Board all necessary information BEFORE their initial decision.

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It has recently come to our attention at Skier & Associates that Alabama’s Pardon and Parole Boards currently have no plans to reinstate live hearings anytime in the near- to mid- term future.

This is disappointing to us and, we are sure, to our many clients who have been waiting years for their day before the Board. We have had success with our newly adopted  strategy of recording live statements from our clients and from Andrew Skier, and submitting those statements electronically along with supporting materials on behalf of our clients. Despite this, we do feel that there is no substitute for a live presentation and obviously the current process leaves no ability for the Board members to ask questions of applicants or engage in any kind of back-and forth encounter that sometimes affect the decisions they make. Also, in our experience the results of the hearings are not posted to the Pardons and Paroles website until late in the day or the next morning, leaving our clients, who are desperate to know the outcome of their case, with even longer before they are able to get closure.

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Although the disruptions to our legal system because of the COVID pandemic continue, there is progress being made in re-opening the judicial system safely. In the past week, I have become aware that in many counties in Alabama, there will soon be jury trials with steps taken to ensure proper social distancing both during jury selection as well as the trial itself. In the Federal Court for the Middle District of Alabama, a jury trial was held this week, which will likely serve as a “test run” for future jury terms. We have taken part in a live evidentiary hearing in Federal Court before a Magistrate judge, and everything went smoothly as expected, although precautions such as plexiglass partitions and face covering requirements were in place.

At Skier & Associates, we have submitted the materials to the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles for two clients with hearings scheduled the week of August 17. Because the Board is not holding live hearings, these clients were required to submit their argument in advance of the hearing date. I have been critical of this decision in the past. We now understand that the Pardon and Parole Board hopes to begin live hearings once again in October of this year. We hope this plan comes to pass, as not only do applicants deserve to be heard, but on a personal level we miss presenting our clients’ cases in a live setting. Continue reading ›

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Courtrooms throughout central Alabama either continue to be closed (Montgomery County, Federal Middle District Courts) or have recently announced closure (As of this week, Elmore, Autauga and Chilton County Courts have closed.) Even those courtrooms that are ostensibly open for business are currently severely limited in what kind of matters they can handle during the COVID-19 pandemic. Obviously jury trials (and Grand Jury hearings) are suspended indefinitely as there is no safe way to achieve social distancing requirements for jurors and others in the courtroom. Other types of hearings are going forward but the slow pace is still creating a backlog of cases that will, in our opinion, take years to resolve once things start moving again.

Interestingly, any Municipal courts within the Circuit Court’s jurisdiction are bound by a Presiding Judge’s order of closure. This means that cases in Montgomery, Wetumpka, Prattville and Millbrook Municipal Courts will be closed until the Presiding Circuit Judge’s order of closure is lifted.

The Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles continues to hold “hearings” but is not allowing live or virtual testimony or presentation of evidence. At the present time applicants must submit materials in support of their position and wait for the result to be announced. We have written previously in this space about the inadequacy of this process and continue to call on this Board to allow virtual hearings for those that request them. After all, a hearing on a Pardon application or Parole request are vitally important to the people involved and these applicants deserve to have their say. Continue reading ›

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