Notable example of clemency as another form of second-look sentencing in Arizona

Most modern discussions of what is often called "second-look" sentencing typically focus on the opportunities and processes for judges to reconsider on various grounds the duration of the prison sentences they previously imposed.  But there is, of course, a kind of second-look sentencing mechanism with a much longer history and a constitutional pedigree, namely executive clemency.  And this new local story from Arizona, headlined "Arizona man sentenced to 292 years for nonviolent crimes released from prison," provides a notable example of state clemency as a kind of second-look sentencing.  Here are some of the particulars:

After serving 10 years of a 292-year sentence for nonviolent offenses, an Arizona man has been released from prison. Atdom Patsalis, who was recently granted clemency and sentenced to home arrest, was greeted by family and supporters as he walked out of a community reentry building in Phoenix Thursday morning.

He said it felt surreal to finally be free. "I had absolutely accepted the fact that I would spend the rest of my life in prison," Patsalis said. "So this feels like a dream."

In 2015, Patsalis was convicted on 25 felony counts stemming from a string of residential burglaries in Bullhead City over three months in late 2013 and early 2014. He was in his early 20s at the time, homeless and struggling with drug addiction. The judge ordered all convictions to run consecutively, turning a series of lesser sentences into a life sentence.

Patsalis spent years appealing the convictions but was ultimately unsuccessful. With the help of the Arizona Justice Project, a Phoenix-based nonprofit that advocates for the innocent and wrongly convicted, Patsalis recently secured a shortening of his sentence through the clemency process.

After a final hearing earlier this month, the Arizona Board of Clemency agreed to release Patsalis to home arrest, subject to electronic monitoring....

Shawnee Ziegler, the Arizona Justice Project's director of operations, worked on Patsalis' case and credited the Arizona Board of Executive Clemency for looking at who Atdom had become, not just the person who committed the crimes. "Atdom's case was one of the worst cases of manifest injustice that we had seen in the 26-year history of our project," she said. "So being here today to watch him walk out is just a miracle."...

In four months, Patsalis will have an opportunity to go before the Clemency Board again to potentially be given general parole without any monitoring. Eventually, he could see an absolute discharge of his sentence.... "I don't think that the justice system is supposed to be about locking people up and taking people's hope away," Pastalis said. "It's about giving people the opportunity to make different choices and decisions. Giving them an opportunity to have a second chance."