Michigan Democrat Gov Whitmer grants pardons, commutations, including for five murderers

Michigan Democrat Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has recently granted pardons and commutations of life sentences, including for five murderers.

Whitmer on Thursday approved the Michigan Parole Board's recommendations of three pardons and four sentence commutations, The Detroit News reported.

The commutations were for men who had been sentenced to life without parole for first-degree murder. Those commuted were: Patrick McNamee, 86, sentenced in 1968 in Calhoun County; William Hurt, 80, sentenced in 1967 in Wayne County; Larry Cross, 69, sentenced in 1979 in Wayne County; and Jamie Meade, sentenced in 1993 in Wayne County.

Whitmer said that Meade was sentenced as an accomplice to a crime that occurred when he was 19, and that his co-defendant, who was more culpable in the crime, was released more than 17 years ago.

The men who were pardoned were: Jerry Williams, who was sentenced in Macomb County in 1971 to life in prison for second-degree murder, plus 30 days for non-payment of alimony or child support; Lu Thanh Le, who was sentenced to probation for attempted larceny from a motor vehicle and attempted unemployment fraud in separate cases in Kent County from 2001 and 2014; and Rodney Gibson, who was sentenced to spend up to 47 years in prison for armed robbery, assault and larceny charges in separate Wayne County cases from 1985 and 1990.

Since Williams' release from prison, he has become an award-winning social worker, church deacon, and mentor for youth in his community, according to state officials. Le has since obtained educational degrees and become a volunteer with the Red Cross, his children's school, and in his religious community, per officials. Gibson completed his sentences, and the pardon will let him better support his children, officials said.