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Ehrlich Commutes Terms for 2 Killers
Governor Signs Orders Granting Clemency

By Eric Rich
Washington Post Staff Writer

Saturday, November 27, 2004; Page B01

Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. commuted the life sentences of two convicted murderers yesterday in a series of orders that marked the most expansive use of clemency powers by any Maryland governor in more than a decade.

Ehrlich signed executive orders reducing the sentences of Mary W. Brown, 46, and Walter H. Arvinger, 55, who were teenagers when they participated in separate slayings in Baltimore.

Arvinger is expected to be released shortly, Ehrlich's office said, and Brown could be eligible for parole in one year.

In commuting the sentences, Ehrlich (R) departed dramatically from the practice of his predecessor, Gov. Parris N. Glendening (D). Glendening generally refused to approve parole for inmates serving life sentences, saying that "life in prison means life in prison." During his campaign for governor, Ehrlich vowed to end Glendening's policy and to examine each case on its merits.

Arvinger's attorney, law professor Michael A. Millemann, said he was delighted by Ehrlich's grant of clemency "for Walter, who never should have been convicted in the first place," but also because the grants reaffirmed an executive power that had fallen into disuse under Glendening.

"I congratulate the governor for doing that," Millemann said. "It takes political courage, but it's the right thing to do."

Also yesterday, Ehrlich pardoned four men who had been convicted of less serious offenses, the most recent in 1987. In addition, he commuted the sentence of Clifford W. Sewell, convicted of daytime housebreaking. Sewell was deemed a habitual offender and sentenced in 1992 to 25 years. Lawmakers reclassified the offense as nonviolent two years later, meaning it was no longer considered a "strike" in the state's three strikes law, but did not make the change retroactive.

Last November, Ehrlich granted clemency to Baltimore County resident Karen Lynn Fried, reducing her life sentence to 45 years. Fried, who remains in prison, became the first lifer since before Glendening took office to be granted clemency with the exception of so-called medical paroles that are sometimes granted to the elderly or gravely ill.

Arvinger's case was the first to be championed by a law clinic Millemann established 18 months ago at the University of Maryland School of Law. The clinic was created to challenge convictions in cases in which Millemann and his students believe an inmate to be innocent.

In 1968, Arvinger, then 19, was among five teenagers accused of plotting to rob a man on a Baltimore street. According to a trial transcript, the victim, James R. Brown, was beaten to death with a baseball bat in a robbery that netted little more than pocket change.

Arvinger did not wield the bat, witnesses at his trial agreed. Testimony was inconsistent as to whether he participated in the planning -- Arvinger said he had gone to a convenience store and only later came upon the robbery in progress -- or shared in the proceeds. His murder trial lasted less than a day.

The Maryland parole commission recommended that Arvinger be granted clemency in 1998. The panel noted that he was the only defendant in the slaying who remained in prison. Even George Allen Jr., who wielded the bat, was released after his sentence was commuted by then-Gov. Marvin Mandel.

In a recent interview at the Western Correctional Institution, Arvinger said that he is innocent and that he has tried not to dwell on the events that led to his incarceration.

"It makes me mad cause I'm doing this time for no reason," he said. "I was just at the wrong place at the wrong time."

Ehrlich commuted Arvinger's sentence to life suspended after 45 years. It was unclear precisely when Arvinger will be released, but Millemann said that with credit for good behavior, it is expected to be before the end of the year.

Stephen Arvinger said yesterday that his younger brother will live with their grandmother and that the news of his imminent release left the entire family, particularly his mother, excited and relieved. "She has endured hell going through this whole ordeal from the beginning," said Arvinger, a Baltimore police officer.

State officials said yesterday that efforts to locate James Brown's relatives when the grant of clemency was being considered were unsuccessful. The Baltimore state's attorney's office did not object to Arvinger's release, Ehrlich's office said.

The other inmate to receive clemency yesterday, Mary W. Brown, has served more than 30 years for a murder that was committed when she was 15 years old. She was convicted of first-degree murder in 1974, after she and a co-defendant robbed and fatally stabbed North Carolina resident Charlotte Ida Lessem in a bus station in Baltimore.

The slaying followed a turbulent childhood, Ehrlich's office said, in which Brown was abused by a stepfather who eventually killed her mother in her presence. Mary Brown is one of the longest-serving female inmates in the state. She, too, had been recommended for clemency once before.

Ehrlich's decision to commute Brown's life sentence to 60 years will not result in her immediate release. Brown must complete 12 months of work release while observing good behavior before officials decide whether to grant her parole, the governor's office said.

State officials said that through a legal representative, Lessem's brother supported the grant of clemency, saying that it was "time to forgive" and that Brown "has been there long enough."

Ehrlich was not available for comment on yesterday's orders, but he said in a statement that the cases reflect "my view that Maryland's criminal justice system must be tough but fair."

"I am committed to seeing that justice always prevails, whether it be regarding a pardon, commutation, parole or death penalty case," Ehrlich said.

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