Court-Martial Trial Practice Blog
Clemency – done.
Appeal – done.
Depending on the forum – Upgrade – done.
No, there is no expungement of a conviction in the military.
What next, anything? Well yes, seek a pardon. But, not with this president.
Obama is currently the fourth-slowest president to commute or void a prisoner’s sentence. Only Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and George Washington have taken longer, according to P.S. Ruckman of Rock Valley College in Illinois.
Today Politico reports that the president denied 605 sentence commutation and 71 pardon requests. Current stats: commutations 0; pardons 0.
And Politico further reports:
A federal appeals court has ruled that the Justice Department must disclose the names of unsuccessful applicants for presidential pardons or commutations, notwithstanding the Obama Administration’s arguments that releasing such information would violate the privacy of clemency seekers.
In an order and memorandum issued Thursday morning (viewable here), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upheld a district court’s decision last year in favor of a former Washington Post reporter, George Lardner Jr., who sought the information in connection with a book he was writing on the clemency process.
A historical record of clemency actions can be found at the Pardon Attorney website. Yes, some convicted at court-martial have received clemency in the past.