Pastor & Chaplain Frances Cobian

Dear Pastor & Chaplain n,
 White House Correspondence Case Number:  20181023-17687331

This responds to your correspondence that was addressed to the White House, but forwarded to this office for a response on November 20, 2018.
 

Please allow this correspondence to confirm that clemency petition (xxxxxxxx ) is still pending, but the executive clemency process requires a careful examination and investigation of each petition and all supporting documentation.  Depending on the individual facts and circumstances of the case, it is often a lengthy process, taking a year or more from start to finish.  Unfortunately, we are unable to offer expedited processing of any individual petition.  We can give no assurance that final action will be taken by the President within a particular period of time because that decision rests with the President alone.  Although we are unable to predict when a decision will be reached, we can assure you that petitioners, or their attorney when represented by counsel, are notified promptly when final action has been taken on their petition. 
 

A clemency petition submitted under one presidential administration, but undecided by that administration, need not be resubmitted to this office or the White House, which will ultimately forward it to us.  No matter the presidential administration, an application will remain under consideration until final action is taken by the President in office at that time.  The Justice Department does not disclose to applicants or third parties the stage at which a clemency application is pending at any given time. 
 

As of April 30, 2018 , all status inquiries and confirmation of pending cases should be confirmed by using the Clemency Lookup feature, which is publicly accessible from our website at  https://www.justice.gov/pardon/search-pending-clemency-case-files .  You can now obtain the same information that we are able provide at any time without the need to wait for a response from our office.   It may take up to 90 days for a new case to show up in the Clemency Lookup feature from the time we receive the new petition, so requests for confirmation of receipt will not get a response if the request is premature. 
 

Please be aware that all clemency related correspondence is handled by the Department of Justice’s Office of the Pardon Attorney.  Thank you for writing to the White House.  I hope this response and information is helpful to you.

Sincerely,
 

William Taylor II

Executive Officer
 

Office of the Pardon Attorney