[O]utgoing Gov. Peter Shumlin has little more than a week left in office. But he plans to consider hundreds of applications for pardons before he goes.
Earlier this month, Shumlin announced that he would offer pardons small marijuana possession convictions to people who have not been charged with felonies for other crimes.
The response was considerable: The office received 460 applications in just over two weeks, according to spokesperson Scott Coriell. The application period closed Dec. 25.
The governor’s staff will collaborate with other agencies, including the Vermont Crime Information Center, to review each application.
Coriell said Tuesday he does not “expect we will have any issues processing all of the applications” by Shumlin’s last day in office next week. Gov.-elect Phil Scott will be sworn in Jan. 5.
Shumlin will likely issue pardons next week, Coriell said.
Possession of small amounts of marijuana was decriminalized in Vermont in 2013. People who were convicted of possession of less than an ounce can go through a court process to have the charge expunged from their record.
“As we see legalization happening in Massachusetts and Maine and a number of other states, you have to ask the question, if it’s going to be legal to buy in so many states now across America, why would we still be punishing the folks that got convicted for an ounce or less, you know, many years ago,” Shumlin said earlier this month.
