Libbin, 030716 CTAGO, AGO 2016-2

• Case Date: March 07, 2016
• Court: Connecticut

Martin R. Libbin AGO 2016-2 No. 2016-02 Connecticut Attorney General Opinions Office of the Attorney General State of Connecticut March 7, 2016           GEORGE JEPSEN ATTORNEY GENERAL.          Martin R. Libbin,          Director of Legal Services          State of Connecticut Judicial Branch          Court Operations Division          100 Washington Street, P.O. Box 150474          Hartford, CT 06115-0474          Dear Attorney Libbin:          You have requested an opinion, on behalf of Judge Patrick L. Carroll III, Chief Court Administrator, and the Judicial Branch, concerning whether the records associated with a conviction for which a conditional pardon has been granted are subject to erasure under state law. We conclude that they are not.          You indicate that current practice of the Board of Pardons and Paroles (Board) and the Judicial Branch has been to treat conditional pardons as requiring erasure. You further indicate that the Board has issued pardons, for which the certificate of pardon is captioned "CERTIFICATE OF PARDON *(NO PISTOL/REVOLVER/HANGUN)" and which purports to grant a "full, complete, absolute and * Conditional pardon (as noted above)...." Finally, you state that your office was asked about these "*Conditional pardons" in light of varying practices of state and national criminal history record systems regarding a pardon or expungement imposing restrictions on the ability to possess firearms and that you have concerns about the treatment of these "*Conditional pardons" as requiring erasure.          Absolute and Conditional Pardons          In Connecticut, the pardoning power is vested in the legislature, which has delegated its exercise to the Board. McLaughlin v. Branson, 206 Comi. 267, 271 (1988); Palka v. Walker, 124 Conn. 121 (1938). Section 54-130a of the General Statutes provides that the Board "shall have authority to grant pardons, conditioned, provisional or absolute, or certificates of rehabilitation for any offense against the state at any time after the imposition and before or after the service of any sentence." Conn. Gen. Stat. § 54-130a(b) (emphasis added).          The Board's statutory authority thus permits it to issue three types of pardons: absolute, conditioned^[1] and provisional. Provisional pardons are defined by statute as "a fonn of relief from barriers or forfeitures to employment or the issuance of licenses granted to an eligible offender by the [Board]...." Conn. Gen. Stat. §...