How a Nevada pardons board disclosure change turned one inmate's clemency request into a governor's race attack

What happened

A change in how the Nevada Board of Pardons Commissioners discloses case sponsors opened the door to campaign attacks on Democratic gubernatorial candidate Aaron Ford, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. In June, board members agreed to start publicly identifying which commissioner asked for review of an inmate's request for relief. Before the September meeting, sponsorship was disclosed only when a commissioner mentioned it during a meeting.

The new disclosure showed that Ford, Nevada's two-term attorney general, had sponsored a request from Norman Smith, who was asking the board for relief from his sentence. Smith's request was unanimously rejected at the September meeting.

How the pardons board works

Who sits on the board

The board is made up of all seven Nevada Supreme Court justices, the governor and the attorney general. Every prison inmate who comes before the board must be sponsored by a commissioner, so sponsorship itself is routine, according to the Review-Journal. At the September meeting, Justice Linda Bell sponsored two other inmates convicted of murder, and Justice Kristina Pickering sponsored an inmate convicted of kidnapping and battery.

Few spots, many requests

The board considers up to 16 inmate applications for clemency each year, while nearly 1,200 inmates sought relief in the 12 months ending June 30, according to the board. A Review-Journal analysis of thousands of documents found that the overwhelming majority of inmates who sought relief over the past seven years had served multiple decades in prison.

Members disagree on what sponsorship means

Chief Justice Douglas Herndon told the Review-Journal that members must choose carefully, weighing time served, how related defendants were sentenced and an inmate's disciplinary history. He said he sponsors someone only when he has decided they merit relief consideration. Retired Justice Michael Cherry said he sponsored a couple of people while on the board but did not equate sponsorship with advocacy.

The Smith case

Smith was convicted in 2019 of manslaughter in the December 2015 shooting death of 20-year-old Tineshea Adams during a fight outside a North Las Vegas restaurant, the Review-Journal reported. Adams was 20 weeks pregnant. Smith was out on bail at the time after an arrest tied to a series of armed robberies in and around the Strip, and he was convicted in those robberies in 2017.

Smith agreed to combine his sentences, and a judge imposed 18 to 59 years, making him eligible for parole after 18 years. His attorney, Kristina Wildeveld, argued the robbery sentence was heavy-handed compared with a co-defendant's and asked the board to change it so he could seek parole after the decade he had served. "Doing so would not guarantee release," Wildeveld said.

Herndon said a commutation would have been extraordinary given how little of the manslaughter sentence Smith had served. Justice Patricia Lee told Smith he needed further rehabilitation. "You have to do the work first," she said.

The campaign fight

Lombardo's attacks

Less than a week after the meeting, Gov. Joe Lombardo's campaign issued a statement attacking Ford over the sponsorship. Ads from the Lombardo-aligned Better Nevada PAC followed, targeting Ford's record of voting to offer relief to convicted killers in the Nevada governor's race. The Review-Journal's review of board records found the process is more complex than the ads suggest, and that Lombardo has also voted for clemency for applicants convicted of similar crimes, though less often than Ford.

Lombardo told the Review-Journal he had never sponsored an inmate's application and that Ford, as the sponsor, should have attended the meeting. The newspaper said it could not verify that claim because sponsorship was not disclosed before September.

Ford's response

Ford missed the September meeting, citing a family emergency, and his office said he would also have voted against the request. Through his office, Ford said he only wanted the board to review the case, noting that Smith's ailing mother, Treena Smith, had lobbied him. Secretary of state records show she gave Ford's campaign $250 on Aug. 26, and campaign spokesperson Prerna Jagadeesh said the donation was refunded once the campaign learned of it.

Ford's office and campaign did not make him available for an interview despite repeated requests, the Review-Journal reported.

What to watch next

• Future pardons board meetings will publicly identify which commissioner sponsored each inmate request under the June agreement.
• The Review-Journal said it could not verify Lombardo's claim that he has never sponsored an inmate application.
• Better Nevada PAC ads and Lombardo's campaign continue to target Ford's clemency record in the governor's race.