We have obtained an Alabama Legislative Services Agency analysis of cases heard in 2021 by the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles. The numbers in this report are not encouraging, and demonstrate several disturbing trends, both for paroles as well as pardons. Among parole applicants, only 15.7% were granted parole. This means that the average parole applicant in Alabama in 2021 has a 84% chance of being denied. And it gets even worse from there. If a candidate for parole is Black, only 9.3% are granted parole. Black applicants thus have a 91% chance of being denied parole by this Board. This ..read more

There is a ton of buzz regarding Alabama’s new expungement law, particularly the provisions making some of those who have felony convictions eligible for expungement. We have been and continue to field lots of calls from people interested in pursuing pardons and then expungements under the new law. While the new law sounds good in theory, in practice things are a bit more complicated. Under the new law, a person who has been convicted of a felony offense (and not all felony offenses are eligible) first must obtain a pardon from the State of Alabama prior to becoming eligible for expungement. B ..read more

It’s all to rare that we at Skier & Associates get to share actual good news out of the Alabama legislature, so the changes to Alabama’s Expungement law, which take effect this Summer, come as a very pleasant surprise to us. Some of the changes are those we have been advocating for in this space and elsewhere for years. Other changes were unexpected but still mostly positive. The most dramatic change is a new provision allowing for those CONVICTED of many misdemeanor and felony offenses to be eligible for expungement under certain circumstances. We have written many times about the faulty ..read more

Each Spring when the Alabama Legislature convenes in Montgomery, we at Skier & Associates look with a sometimes wary eye to see what new laws will emerge from the session. We are happy to say that there are several promising pieces of legislation in the pipeline this year, and some of these could have a positive impact on our clients. This post will briefly explore two of these measures that will have the most impact on the people we serve. The most dramatic measure being considered by the 2021 legislature would abolish Alabama’s antiquated and needlessly cruel Habitual Offender law, while ..read more

There is good news and bad news to report about recent developments within Alabama’s system of handling Parole and Pardon requests. First the bad news: Hearings are still not being held in-person. In our opinion, this puts applicants at a disadvantage as we believe it is extremely important to be able to personally face and speak directly to Board members. It’s just not sufficient to review a file and perhaps read a letter or series of letters on behalf of an applicant. Pardon or Parole applicants should at the very least have the opportunity to directly address the board and communicate impor ..read more

Here at Skier & Associates we have noticed a larger than usual number of potential clients calling our offices for advice and help AFTER they have already had a hearing on a Pardon or Parole request that did not go their way. We cannot emphasize enough that waiting until after the Board has already considered your case is not the best time to reach out to us. Clearly the best time to contact a lawyer for help is prior to a hearing, preferably several weeks or months out. There are many reasons for this, but the two most important will be discussed here: First, the Board’s extremely limited ..read more

It has recently come to our attention at Skier & Associates that Alabama’s Pardon and Parole Boards currently have no plans to reinstate live hearings anytime in the near- to mid- term future. This is disappointing to us and, we are sure, to our many clients who have been waiting years for their day before the Board. We have had success with our newly adopted  strategy of recording live statements from our clients and from Andrew Skier, and submitting those statements electronically along with supporting materials on behalf of our clients. Despite this, we do feel that there is no sub ..read more

Although the disruptions to our legal system because of the COVID pandemic continue, there is progress being made in re-opening the judicial system safely. In the past week, I have become aware that in many counties in Alabama, there will soon be jury trials with steps taken to ensure proper social distancing both during jury selection as well as the trial itself. In the Federal Court for the Middle District of Alabama, a jury trial was held this week, which will likely serve as a “test run” for future jury terms. We have taken part in a live evidentiary hearing in Federal Court before a Magis ..read more

The Court system in Alabama is slowly starting to come back to life. The Alabama Supreme Court has passed the buck on the re-opening, leaving it to each individual circuit or court to decide when and how to re-open. This has led to a patchwork of different policies around Alabama’s courts, and has also caused lawyers like us to make lots of phone calls confirming court dates on behalf of clients. In the past weeks, lawyers from Skier & Associates have made personal appearances in several courts in Alabama, including Elmore County, Prattville Municipal Court, and Talladega County. We have u ..read more

At Skier & Associates, our practice is varied. We have pending cases in numerous venues including Alabama State Courts (District Court, Circuit Court, Family Court in Montgomery, Autauga, Elmore, Butler, Lowndes and other counties) Municipal Courts (Montgomery, Prattville, Millbrook and Wetumpka City Courts for example,) Federal District Courts (Middle District of Alabama) and administrative bodies (Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles.) All of these entities have approached their scheduling and handling of pending cases differently during the period of shut-down, and all are taking differ ..read more