Prof. Murray's Clemency Project Featured in the Star Tribune

Against the backdrop of the countdown to the end of the Obama administration, and the fading hopes of thousands of federal inmates who have applied for clemency, the Star Tribune featured a client of Professor JaneAnne Murray's Clemency Project at the Law School. Murray's project has so far received 7 grants and is awaiting word on 17 other clients.

Kenneth Gragg is serving a 25-year mandatory minimum sentence, and through another inmate, has garnered the support of a faith community in Detroit Lakes, which has found him a home and a job if he is among one of the final recipients of clemency. Gragg told the reporter that he feels moments of desolation. “I’ve done [nearly] 12 years now and feel like I don’t have 10 more in me if I do not get this. [It] feels like someone has a foot on your chest pushing the air out.” One of Gragg's Detroit Lakes supporters, Rev. Brenda North of United Methodist Church, is quoted as saying that a sentence can become more immoral than the crime it intends to punish. “I believe God weeps at that loss of human potential,” North said. “We all do.”