Virginia Governor restores rights to 1,100 felons

From  [HERE] RICHMOND, Va. — During his first year in office, Gov. Bob McDonnell restored the civil rights of more than 1,100 felons and granted seven pardons. At that rate, the Republican governor is on a course to restore at least as many rights as his recent predecessors during his four-year term. "I promised when I ran that we'd have the fastest and fairest civil-rights restoration process in modern history," McDonnell said Tuesday on the Norfolk radio station WNIS. "I think we've accomplished that." In addition to the restorations, McDonnell granted six medical pardons and one simple pardon between Jan. 16, 2010, and Jan. 16, 2011, according to Senate Document No. 2, a hefty report that governors give annually to the General Assembly detailing such action. The single, simple pardon was granted to a man convicted of assault and battery in Virginia Beach after an altercation with his then-girlfriend -- now his wife of 12 years -- and allows him to continue his military service, according to the report. A simple pardon declares that a person convicted of a crime has been officially forgiven. A notation will appear on a person's criminal record, but it will not erase the conviction from the record. Of the six people granted a medical pardon, five of them died within weeks, one of them the day after his release. The felons who regained their right to vote, to run for and hold public office, and to serve on juries had offenses ranging from the nonviolent to murder. One man was sentenced on a charge of seduction in January 1957. Another was sentenced in 1981 for conspiracy and interstate transportation of stolen shrimp, while one man was convicted of knowingly selling or offering to sell wildlife in excess of $350: black bear gallbladders. Carroll Abdul-Malik had his rights restored in July, though he said he never applied under McDonnell. He first asked for restoration 27 years ago and last applied under then-Gov. Timothy M. Kaine. He's now president of the Muslim Chaplain Services of Virginia, which works with incarcerated Muslims and helps them transition back into society after release. "It was slower than a snail's pace for me to get my rights restored," he said. Abdul-Malik was in the midst of helping a family seek a medical pardon when he received a letter in the mail from the state. He figured the pardon had been approved. Instead, it informed him that his rights had been restored. He said he's impressed with McDonnell's focus on prisoner re-entry, and on rights restoration: "I admire him for honoring his word." McDonnell campaigned on implementing a speedier restoration-review process, and once in office he set a self-imposed goal of delivering an answer to a petitioner within 60 days. Secretary of the Commonwealth Janet Polarek said the state tries to beat the 60-day mark, with answers for some coming within two weeks. The administration has approved about 90 percent of the nonviolent-felon applications received, and about 70 percent of the violent ones. Tom Fitzpatrick, the ACLU of Virginia Dunn Fellow, heads up efforts to reform state felons' voting-rights laws. He said if McDonnell keeps up this pace, he'll restore about as many civil rights as Kaine did during his term -- 4,402. Virginia is one of only two states that require the governor to restore civil rights, and the ACLU has pushed for automatic restoration after felons complete their sentence. "The review process has been faster than the past administrations'," Fitzpatrick said, "b