A Clemency Conundrum in Michigan

By James Carney

Jennifer Granholm has been a Democratic Party star ever since she was elected Michigan's Governor in 2002. A cerebral centrist and former prosecutor with TV-ready glamour, Granholm coasted through her first two years in office with lofty approval ratings. But now the Governor, already hurt by Michigan's persistent economic woes, is facing a politically perilous decision: whether to grant clemency to a woman whose 1993 murder conviction in state court was later declared "a travesty" by a federal judge.

Kylleen Hargrave-Thomas, 53, has always claimed her innocence in the brutal stabbing murder of her boyfriend 14 years ago. In 2002, U.S. District Judge Paul Gadola overturned her conviction, saying her trial lawyers had been "manifestly and flagrantly ineffective." She was released, but last year a federal appeals court reversed the ruling. In April, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to take her case. Next week a judge will decide whether to revoke her bond. Unless Granholm intervenes to grant clemency, Hargrave-Thomas will probably go back to serving a life sentence.

"I'm just praying the Governor will help me," Hargrave-Thomas says. But that is no easy decision. Hargrave-Thomas has a broad range of supporters--from Democratic Senator Carl Levin to Judge Gadola, a Ronald Reagan appointee who has publicly said she "very likely is innocent." But the victim's family opposes setting her free, and if Granholm did so, she would risk being labeled soft on crime. G.O.P. state chairman Saul Anuzis last week issued a statement warning the Governor not "to release a convicted murderer due to political pressure." --By James Carney