Pardons And Parole Board To Decide Paradis’ Request

The state Commission on Pardons and Parole will decide on Monday whether to grant condemned murderer Donald Manuel Paradis a hearing on his request for commutation of his death sentence.

The three-line announcement on Friday came after Paradis’ attorneys filed their petition contending that new evidence will show the 47-year-old former motorcycle gang member is innocent of the 1980 murder of 19-year-old Kimberly Ann Palmer.

Paradis is also pursuing a last-ditch round of appeals before the federal courts. But because those appeals have been rejected in the past, the focus of his defense team has been on the commutation proceeding.

The state Supreme Court cleared the way in February for 1st District Judge Gary Haman to set a new execution date, but Haman has yet to do so.

The Commission on Pardons and Parole on Monday will only decide whether to give Paradis a hearing on his clemency petition. It grants only a fraction of the hearings requested, but if Paradis is successful, the hearing must be legally advertised for four weeks before it can be held, pushing the date into May.