13 ex-felons got state rights back in error
TALLAHASSEE (AP) – Gov. Charlie Crist and the Florida Cabinet may reconsider the cases of 13 ex-felons whose civil rights were restored based on erroneous evaluations by the state’s Parole Commission, according to a recent audit.
Crist and the three Cabinet members, sitting as the Board of Executive Clemency, Thursday directed staffers to review those cases and report back.
Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink said rights that include voting, serving on a jury and running for public office ought to be rescinded in at least three cases because they involved convictions for aggravated or sexual battery.
“Perhaps those applicants could come back to the Clemency Board the next time we meet in December and be given an expedited opportunity to present their case to the board,” Sink later said.
Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson, though, said he’d be reluctant to take back the ex-convicts’ civil rights for crimes that may have occurred decades ago unless there were aggravating circumstances.
The errors turned up in a random sample of 203 cases examined by the Auditor General’s Office. That’s a 6 percent error rate.
Parole Commission Chairman Frederick Dunphy told the board his panel took “full responsibility,” but noted it had to cut 24 staff positions due to a 20 percent budget reduction last year. That’s even though its workload has increased significantly since April 2007 due to a rule change by the board, which dramatically increased the number of rights cases it handles.
“I believe that had an impact also – not an excuse, simply an explanation to the board as to some of the challenges we had,” Dunphy said.
The new rule automatically restores the rights of ex-felons who have committed relatively minor crimes including drunken driving, grand theft, burglary and sale of a controlled substance. All cases previously had to go to the board for a decision and relatively few ex-convicts applied.
The applications, which the commission has to process and verify, went up sharply after the rule change. Rights cases processed increased from 43,856 in the 2004-05 budget year to 151,823 in 2007-08. The rule has resulted in automatic rights restoration for 148,000 ex-felons since it was passed.
Rights applications from those convicted of more serious crimes still go to the board for a decision.
The audit did not identify the ex-felons improperly granted their rights nor say which, if any, had been restored automatically.
It reported nine of the 13 cases were in error because applicants still owed restitution or had outstanding warrants, both disqualifying factors. The other four cases were misclassified as being in the lowest of three levels of eligibility when they should have been ranked higher due to their severity.
The audit also found 85 percent of rights restoration requests from nearly 33,000 ex-offenders convicted out of state or in federal courts that were received from Jan. 1, 2006 through Feb. 1, 2009 hadn’t been forwarded for further processing. Since February, the backlog has been reduced to 64 percent.
The commission also handles applications and investigations for pardons and authority by ex-felons to own, possess or use firearms, both of which require board action.
Board members granted about 30 pardons Thursday, but expressed dismay one case took six years to process and investigate.
Dunphy said it typically takes three or four years and again blamed budget cuts.